Clearing the air: Experts show how we can breathe easier at home

Monday, Feb. 11, 2002 | 8:30 a.m.

Dust mites, chemicals, carbon monoxide, oh my.

Wondering about indoor air quality? You're not alone.

With cases of asthma rising nationwide, portable air purifiers stacked on department store shelves and news stories of dust and mold contamination, air quality experts say that consumers are becoming more curious about the issue.

"People have many questions, particularly on the new products," said Katherine Pruitt, with the American Lung Association in Washington, D.C., which provides indoor air quality information on its website, lungusa.org.

Sources of indoor air pollution can include biological pollutants pets, dust mites and fungi kerosene, wood and gas-burning stoves, personal-care products, air fresheners, pesticides, radon and second-hand smoke.

Nationally radon, a cancer-causing colorless and odorless gas caused by a breakdown of uranium in soil and rock, is a concern. But local experts say that radon isn't a huge problem in Southern Nevada.

Southern Nevada does have high levels of airborne dust and particulate matter. Some researchers have linked these to asthma.

Thomas McManus, a certified industrial-hygenist who owns the local company Environmental Health Services Inc., said he gets an average of five calls a day from residents asking him to test the air quality of their homes.

"It ranges from anything from strange odors to mold concerns to more exotic things, such as pesticides and asbestos," McManus said.

But for every concern, he said, there is a commercial remedy offered that might not be necessary.

"A lot of things that people can do to improve their indoor air quality don't cost a lot of money," McManus said.

His suggestions: Deep cleaning of the home; vacuuming regularly with a vacuum cleaner that uses a HEPA filter; and replacing filters for the air-conditioning system monthly with electrostatic or pleated filters.

From agency to agency the advice seems to be the standard.

"We don't encourage the use of air cleaners," said Elissa Feldman, associate director of indoor environmentals division for the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. "We would rather people figure out the source of the problem and remove those exposures."

Victor Cohen, a local allergy and asthma doctor, said that most of his patients who suffer from indoor-air quality problems, suffer due to animal dander, dust and dust mites and pollen.

"People are up in their arms about mold," Cohen said. But mold in Southern Nevada homes is not a major problem, he said.

"The worst thing is environmental tobacco smoke. There's 3,800 chemicals emitted in the air from tobacco smoke. It's a major source of carbon monoxide."

Cohen said he doesn't recommend electronic portable indoor air cleaners to his patients. He recommends that they use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter.

"Most of the stuff in the air that's filterable is not in the air for any length of time," Cohen said. "It's in the carpeting."

The beginnings

Concerns about indoor air quality emerged in the 1980s, after the EPA conducted a study in which personal monitors were attached to selected people living in different areas throughout the country.

The monitors were designed to test total-body exposure to pollutants and were worn 24 hours a day.

The tests concluded that pollution levels were two to five times greater inside homes than outdoors, regardless of whether the people wearing the monitors lived in rural or highly industrial areas.

The source of pollution was from volatile inorganic compounds: paints, paint strippers, wood preservatives, aerosol sprays, cleaners, disinfectants, air fresheners, hobby supplies and dry-cleaned clothing.

It was kind of an "aha moment," Feldman said. Until then, she said, the EPA had focused its efforts on outdoor air pollution.

Shortly after the study the American Lung Association began producing fact sheets. Home-electronic, portable indoor-air cleaners appeared on the market.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, a Washington, D.C., not-for-profit trade association, began rating air cleaners in 1988, based on their ability to remove tobacco-smoke particles, dust and pollen from the air, and set a standard known as the Clean Air Delivery Rate.

From the 18 certified manufacturers approved by AHAM there are about 200 different models of portable room air cleaners, Jill Notini, spokeswoman for AHAM, said.

"Within the past three years we have had about five or six new companies producing the product," she said.

Clearing the air

Whether the air cleaners are effective in improving the quality of indoor air quality is debated among professionals.

"Generally the devices people purchase are not large enough to have a significant amount of air pass through to have an impact overall," McManus said. "They're just not big enough."

"Does it clean the air, yes," he said. "They just don't have the capacity to make an impact."

Local allergy and asthma specialist Dr. Jim Christensen said that he doesn't believe that air purifiers improve air quality. But, he added, "I have some patients who go out and get them and swear by them."

Other than changing air-conditioning filters once a month, Christensen said that he doesn't suggest to his patients anything to improve indoor air quality.

"There's a lot we don't know about the indoor quality problems, but how much of a problem (there) is, in my guess, is not huge," Christensen said.

"Just because the EPA finds or thinks it has a problem, it doesn't mean it's clinically relevant."

According to the EPA, studies haven't proven air-duct cleaning to prevent health problems. Nor has it been concluded that dust levels are higher when air ducts are dirty.

Bobby Koehne, owner of the local A Skyhaven Air Duct Cleaning Company, said that having air ducts cleaned every few years is essential.

Koehne has been cleaning air ducts in homes in Southern Nevada since 1975. Air ducts get infested with bacteria and molds and are cluttered with dead skin residue, animal dander and dust, he said.

But in order for air-duct cleaning to be effective, Koehne said, "You must clean the entire system, from where the air enters to where the air leaves," including the coils and fans where the air passes through inside the handler, which is the cabinet that sits inside the home. Then it must be sanitized with EPA-approved disinfectant.

Koehne said he doesn't understand why the EPA would state that air-duct cleaning hasn't proven to lessen the amount of dust levels in the home.

After each cleaning, the air smells better and is cleaner and crisper, he said.

From an average home he said he gets eight to 10 pounds of dust from the ducts. The process takes an average of three hours. Depending on the condition of the air ducts, the procedure costs around $250.

"People feel a lot better when I'm done," Koehne said.

Cleaning house

For asthma and allergy sufferers, or those who are concerned with indoor pollutants, many allergists and other professionals in the field suggest replacing carpet in their homes with ceramic tile or vinyl flooring.

Las Vegas resident Kathy Clayton has had such problems with allergies that she and her husband, Bill, had the carpet removed from the living room and hallway of their one-story home on the west side of Las Vegas and replaced it with laminate-wood flooring.

She said that she noticed the difference in the air quality of her home immediately.

Clayton, who owns a cat and two dogs, said that she has sinus problems and gets headaches from environmental-air problems. The headaches had gotten so bad that she had even seen a neurologist, who was unable to diagnose her problem.

After meeting with her, Cohen explained that her headaches may associated with her home environment.

"It was old carpet," Clayton said. "My allergies were killing me. We had steam-cleaned the carpeting, but there's only so much you can do. We decided to pull it up."

She said that she has three bedrooms that are still carpeted.

"When I spend a lot of time in the bedrooms, I'm stuffy," she said.

Clayton also uses a small portable air cleaner that she keeps on a stand in her kitchen.

"That's been wonderful," she said. "I noticed a difference within about a week."

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