Get To Know Sources of Toxic Indoor Air: From Candles to Furniture and Toys
Health and Science Blog, Kodoom.com Editorial:
According to a comprehensive study on indoor air quality, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are now widespread environmental pollutants found inside our homes that can cause cancer and other serious diseases. PAHs are often formed in the combustion process of carbonaceous materials such as in automobile exhaust, industrial emissions, and smoke from burning wood, charcoal, candles, tobacco in cooking, domestic heating, open fireplaces. Among candles, paraffin candles are the worst. Paraffin is a byproduct of petroleum, coal or shale that has been whitened using bleach that infuses it with toxic dioxins.
Grilled, smoked and charbroiled foods can also contain PAHs.
Other sources of indoor contamination are air Fresheners, dryer sheets, cleaning products, bleach and detergents, and chemical fire retardants common in a wide variety of household items such as furniture, laminated floors, carpets, electronics, appliances and even baby products. These chemicals were mandated by a 1975 law called TB 117, but they have since been proven ineffective in preventing fires and are linked to numerous health and environmental problems. In fact, these chemicals can make fires more toxic by forming deadly gases and soot—which are the real killers in most fires. Fire retardants are most commonly found in furniture containing polyurethane foam, including couches and upholstered chairs, futons and carpet padding. They can also be found in children’s car seats, changing table pads, portable crib mattresses, nap mats and nursing pillows.
Fire retardants migrate out of products and contaminate house dust, which accumulates on the floor where children play and can also become airborne. Women with higher levels of flame retardants in their blood take longer to get pregnant and have smaller babies. Children exposed in the womb have lower IQs and attention problems. Other studies have linked flame retardants to cancer, male infertility, male birth defects, and early puberty in girls. Recent studies in animals linked toxic flame retardants to autism and obesity.
Women and children are particularly vulnerable to indoor toxins because of the longer time spent at home. You can find a list of safer furniture HERE.
According to a comprehensive research report issued by World Health Organization (WHO) prenatal exposure to the particle-bound PAHs may increase the risk of low birth weight and asthma symptoms by the age of 1–2 years. It also significantly lowers Bayley Mental Development Index as well as a greater likelihood of cognitive developmental delay at the age of three years.
PAHs and other indoor toxins also pose potential human carcinogenic risk. There is now a robust body of evidence supporting a strong association between occupational exposure to PAH-containing mixtures and lung cancer in humans. Cigarette smoke contains PAHs and cigarette smoking has also been classified as carcinogenic to humans. Frequency of DNA strand breaks was significantly higher, while the DNA repair capacity was significantly impaired when children experienced higher home exposure to burning of wood, coal, cow dung and kerosene.
In August 2014, the German Committee for Technical Equipment and Consumer Products (AtAV) published a requirement on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) limits in products that are subject to the GS Certification: Electrical and electronic products, Toys (materials intended to be put in the mouth, or materials of toys intended for long-term skin contact of longer than 30 seconds), food packaging materials, plastic and rubber products.
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