How Safe is The Air Your Baby Breathes?
Babies and young children are especially vulnerable to environmental pollutants in the air. Studies show that diseases such as asthma are related to early exposure to poor indoor air quality. The incidences of respiratory illness that can be ascribed to air pollution have increased in recent years.
What Are The Dangers?
Research has found that exposure of pregnant mothers, babies and young children to air pollution has resulted in alarming increases in health problems. The types of diseases and disorders that can be attributed to poor air quality include:
- Asthma
- Headaches and fatigue
- Allergies
- Liver damage
- Respiratory problems
- Neurological problems
- Developmental delays
- Stunted fetal growth
- Immune system problems
- Reproductive disorders
- Nervous disorders
- Cardiovascular system problems, and
- Cancer
How Are Babies and Children Exposed?
Common pollutants include air pollution from fuel burning, secondhand smoke, pesticides, allergens, mold, lead and mercury. A recent California Air Resources Board study found that common cleaning products and air fresheners can cause serious problems. Baby nurseries are especially at risk after renovating (painting, adding carpeting, new furniture, humidifiers, etc.)
Setting Up A Nursery for Baby – A Perfect Time to Test Your Air Quality
Most of the time you can’t tell if the air in your home is polluted, so it’s imperative that you have your home checked out, especially before you bring your baby home.
What Air Quality Tests Are Needed?
The best place to start is to have a Healthy Home Assessment done by a qualified environmental consultant. The environmental consultant will start by assessing your specific concerns (i.e new baby, allergies or asthma) and will visually inspect your home. Based on the information collected in the assessment, recommendations for sampling will be provided. Recommendations may include testing for:
- Mold
- Allergens (dust mites, pollen, pet dander, etc.)
- Volatile Organic Contaminants
- Formaldehyde
- Carbon monoxide
- Carbon dioxide
- Particulates
- Radon
- Lead paint
- Asbestos
Samples should be sent to an independent laboratory for analysis.
Plan for Eliminating Air Quality Dangers
Your environmental consultant will help you interpret the laboratory results and make a plan for addressing identified problems.
Envirosentials is Your Local Authority on Indoor Air Quality
Michelle McIntyre of Envirosentials is specifically trained and certified to help identify air quality hazards. Your family deserves to breathe clean air– their future health may depend on it. Call Michelle at 800-604-3886 for your free ½ hour phone consultation today! A FREE report on creating a healthy nursery is available on her website at www.envirosentials.com
Does your “Earth Day” end at your front door?
Today is Earth Day, a day to offer service to the benefit of the environment and give respect to Mother Earth. The day will come and go and you may or may not participate in local events, plant a tree, clean-up a beach, etc. When the day is over and you go home, why does Earth Day have to end at the front door? Bring the same mindset you had outside to your indoor environment. What can you do inside your home to make everyday Earth Day? What’s great is that unlike the outdoor environment, you can control everything inside your four walls. How can you easily respect and control the air, water and “soil” inside your home today?
- Air: It’s April, open all the windows and doors, even if only for a little while to let your home breathe in the beautiful fresh air. While you’re there, check around each window for peeling paint, mold on the windows, water staining on the floor below, damaged thresholds at doorways, etc. Check the screens for rips and tears. Wipe the dust off the blinds (what a drag, I know!).
- Soil: House dust is full of nasty things such as fibers, insect parts, pet dander, human and animal hair, food, pollen, mold spores, bacteria, skin flakes, sand, dust mites, dust mite feces and whatever else you just tracked in on your shoes. Take off your shoes when you enter your home. Take some time to vacuum and dust the house today. Use a HEPA vacuum. If you don’t have a good HEPA vacuum, take the time today to research and investigate which vacuum fits your budget and would be appropriate for your home and family. Plan to upgrade your vacuum as soon as you can.
- Water: If you’re exhausted from #1 and 2 above, grab a glass of water and just sit and think about your drinking water supply. Where does it come from? If you are supplied with public water, have you looked at the most recent water report the utility company mailed you? If you have a private well, when was the last time you had the water tested? In either case, knowledge is power. You may be surprised to know that clean private well water can be a better source of drinking water than what you buy at the store. If you have public water, do you like the taste or do you buy bottled water because you think you shouldn’t drink from the tap as I hear many of you say? Are you drinking your own water or paying extraordinary costs for small plastic bottles of water that you are so dutifully recycling? How much money are you spending each month on bottled water? It’s easy to test your water or have someone come out and test it for you. You may find it easy to convert to drinking the water from your own home.
Spend the time to take care of your own piece of earth today. You can improve the indoor environment with just a few modifications.
Envirosentials provides healthy home consultations to help you improve your indoor environment. We’ll show you exactly how you can take control of the air, water and soil inside your home. Call us today at 800-604-3886 for a free 1/2 hr phone consultation.
Hey California residents, have you installed your carbon monoxide detectors yet?
Senate Bill 183 requires that carbon monoxide (CO) detectors must be installed in existing single-family homes that currently use fossil-fuel burning appliances, fireplaces or have attached garages by July 1, 2011. All remaining homes (such as apartments) will have to have CO detectors in place by January 1, 2013.
What is SB 183?
This bill deals with existing housing. It covers every “dwelling unit intended for human occupancy” which means single-family housing, factory-built homes, condominiums, motels, hotels, dormitories, and dwelling units in “multiple-unit dwelling unit buildings” (apartment houses). It applies to every dwelling unit that has “a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, fireplace, or an attached garage”. ”Fossil fuel” means “coal, kerosene, oil, wood, fuel gases, and other petroleum or hydrocarbon products, which emit CO as a byproduct of combustion.” Most homes are covered by this bill.
The bill requires that these dwelling units install a “carbon monoxide device” that is designed to detect CO and produce a “distinct, audible alarm.” The device may be battery-powered, a plug in, or hard-wired with a battery backup. It may be combined with a smoke detector, but if so, it must emit “an alarm or voice warning in a manner that clearly differentiates between a CO alarm warning and a smoke detector warning.”
California law states that anyone who does not comply with the law may face a $200 fine. However, residents will receive a notice and 30 days to correct any violations before they are fined.
CO detector must meet the following requirements:
- Certified and approved by the State Fire Marshall;
- Installed, consistent with new construction standards or according to the approved instructions;
- Sound an audible warning once CO is detected;
- Powered by a battery, or if it is plugged in, have a backup battery;
- Certified by a national testing lab, such as the Underwriters Laboratories.
Green Irene’s CO detector today http://bit.ly/hwdd82 meets the requirements of the new California law, and is listed with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Program.
For single family residences, we would advise a CO detector/alarm be installed in or near each bedroom area, near any combustible appliances (gas furnace, water heater, stove/oven, etc.), and near the connection point where any attached garage(s) enter the house.
Other types of buildings should, at a minimum, follow the applicable building code regulation, though as a very general rule, they should have a detector/alarm near each sleeping area, near any combustible appliances, near any garage entry points, and on each floor of the structure. Please note that some regulations require that CO detector/alarms be wired together (so that if one activates, all CO alarms in the building activate).
Not a California resident? Carbon Monoxide is not limited by state lines. Protect your family by purchasing detectors.
A small price to pay to save lives:
- Health effects of acute CO poisoning include lethargy, headaches, concentration problems, amnesia, psychosis, Parkinson’s disease, memory impairment, and personality alterations. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), CO is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the United States.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that CO kills approximately 500 people each year and injures another 20,000 people nationwide.
- According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), a person cannot see or smell CO. High levels CO can kill a person in minutes.
- The State Air Resources Board estimates that every year CO accounts for between 30 and 40 avoidable deaths, possibly thousands of avoidable illnesses, and between 175 and 700 avoidable emergency room and hospital visits.
For more information on SB 183 http://1.usa.gov/fyqtKZ
To purchase your CO detectors today http://bit.ly/hwdd82
Look what the cat dragged in!
Look what the cat (well dog actually) dragged in!
This is my dog, Griffin, a male Newfoundland, who at the time of this photo weighed about 115 pounds. Yes, that is mud on his head. This photo was taken inside my house, after I calmed down from watching him run circles around my living room, spraying mud onto every surface in three rooms of my home! Chasing my dog with my young son, whose shoes; were also covered in mud. I’m showing you this to demonstrate one way our outdoor environment gets inside our home….it hitch hikes.
Now that you have some sort of visual, imagine the same open door that allowed my pet and son to wander in freely, also allows mold spores, pollen, and pesticides to make their way inside, unimpeded and unnoticed. Mold spores, also called fungi, can blow in from outdoor reservoirs such as compost piles and decaying vegetation. It is normal and expected to find mold outdoors and an “open door policy” allows them to come inside as well. The same can be said about pollens in the air, although the outdoor pollen concentration varies with the season and time of day.
Penetrations in the building envelope can also create unhealthy conditions. Roof and window leaks allow water to enter the building envelope. Often times the building tenants are unaware of the problem until water starts to seep through the ceiling and walls, water stains form, and ultimately, mold grows. Pests travel through holes in the foundation and make nests inside the building envelope; termites can infest and damage the integrity of the structure. Contamination in the soil can get into private and surface water supplies and can enter the house on dust catching a wave on a strong breeze.
We can’t keep the outdoors out, but we can try to control it. Here are 5 things you can do today:
1. Control your entryway. First, get a door mat. This is an easy and inexpensive way to catch mud and debris trying to sneak into your home. Second, take off your shoes and leave them at the front door. In my experience, this is becoming a common practice and guests won’t mind your request.
2. Monitor your windows and doors. I am a fan of ventilation and believe fresh air is great for you and your home, but you should close your windows and doors during rain and wind storms. Open windows and doors allow water to enter during a storm which can damage window sills and carpeting and can lead to mold. Similarly, monitor the weather for days of high pollen counts and/or high wind. Close windows and doors during these times to reduce the amount of pollen and dust entering the house.
3. Perform weekly inspections. Take a walk around the exterior of your home once a week to look for things like holes and cracks in the foundation and pests in nests or trails. Correct obvious problems immediately. If uncertain, call in local experts to take a look. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve inspected a home and the homeowner takes me to areas around the house they admit they haven’t seen in years. Unwanted surprises often lurk in these areas!
4. Perform an inventory of the chemicals and pesticides you are using in your yard and garage. Consider their proper use and disposal. Are they really necessary? How green does your lawn really need to be? What’s separating your yard or garage from the inside of your house…an open door? Pesticides and chemicals do not respect your threshold.
5. Gather information on your water supply. If you have a private well, cistern or spring, try to locate details on its construction. This information should be provided in a “well log”. Check your local public health department or building department for these records. While you’re there, check out the rest of the file for your home…you may be surprised what’s in there. Keep copies for your personal file.
What happens if you lose total control and end up with a muddy mess? Stay tuned for our next visit.
The Home Environment
When you think of the “environment” what comes to mind? Air, water, soil, right? There are so many rules and regulations that pertain to the environment. We all want a clean environment – clean air to breathe, clean water to drink. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and local health departments are a few of the agencies trying to keep our outdoor environment safe. So what about our homes, who protects our air, water and soil from contamination? We do. If this gets you a little concerned, stick with us, we’ll help you sort through all the potential contaminants that can enter your home and make you or your family sick, damage your home, and cost you money.
Let’s start by looking at air. The most common indoor air pollutants are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mold, allergens, tobacco smoke, bacteria and viruses, heavy metals, radon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, pesticides, and asbestos.
Now, on to water. Every home receives their drinking water from a public or private water supply. A public water supply is usually supplied by your municipal water company and you know you have this type because you pay a utility bill. A private water supply is usually a private well, spring or cistern located on or in close vicinity to your property. The most common water contaminants include bacteria, nitrates, pesticides, VOCs, trihalomethanes, metals, asbestos, radon, and perfluorochemicals (PFCs).
You may think the soil outside your home does not affect your home’s health, but consider the way you care for your yard, garden and structures. Fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides all enter the soil and can travel into the water supply. Nearby or historic manufacturing practices can also contribute to soil contamination in residential areas. Soil contamination affects your indoor environment by contaminating your water supply, getting tracked in by animals, or blowing right in on a windy day.
Overwhelmed? In the upcoming blogs, we’ll break each one down to educate you about each of the pollutants, their sources, problems they can cause, and what you can do to try to reduce the levels in your home.
Healthy Home Consulting
Envirosentials…the seedling has sprouted!
Welcome to the first Envirosentials blog! I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell you a little about my company. I started working in the environmental field around 1990 as a microbiologist in a laboratory in Northern New Jersey. I quickly realized that I’m not cut out for standing in a lab 8 hours a day testing water, soil and sludge! Luckily, I found the most beautiful townships in New Jersey to spend many years working with residents and environmental health. We dealt with everything from septic systems, restaurant inspections, water testing, recreational bathing, radon, rabies, Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus, to bio-terrorism (just to name a few!). Years later, and a thousand miles south, I found myself living in the middle of hurricane alley. Florida is beautiful and its hot, humid climate provided ample opportunities to experience indoor air quality problems and mold. Now I live in Orange County, California. I’ve decided to get back to doing what I love to do, educating people about environmental health, and how it affects their health and the health of those they love.
The idea of Envirosentials was born many years ago. I was standing in the front yard of a small house in West Milford, New Jersey. Raw sewage was bubbling out of the grass and running down the street. The septic system was malfunctioning. As I was explaining to the shocked homeowner the next steps for the expensive and extremely destructive testing and installation that was required to repair her system, she just shook her head and said, “I had no idea I had a tank and pipes in my yard”. For those of you with septic systems, it’s likely you have over a thousand square feet of sand, stone and pipes in your yard!
I’ve heard hundreds of similar stories over the years, about how the parents of an asthmatic child didn’t know the green mold all over their child’s toys could trigger an asthma attack, or how a simple home remodeling project could give a small child lead poisoning. I believe that homeowners need to better understand their homes and how human activities and climate can affect its health. Our homes are the most expensive item most of us will purchase. They are built with systems that need to be understood and maintained; plumbing, electrical, drinking water, sewage treatment, heating and air conditioning are a few of the important systems in your home.
Failure to maintain these systems is costly!
We take our bodies to the doctor for a checkup, our cars to the mechanic, but what about our houses?
How do we know when our houses are sick?
What is our sick house doing to the people who live inside?
I provide healthy home consulting and testing. In this blog I will share the knowledge I have gained during my many years in the field, case studies and helpful tips. If you’re interested in this, I encourage you to ask questions and participate in the blog. If not, please pass the link along to someone you think may benefit from learning ways to create a healthier home. You can reach me by e-mail at mmcintyre@envirosentials.com or through the websites, www.Envirosentials.com and www.GreenIrene.com/Envirosentials.
A little about me…
Michelle McIntyre, President Envirosentials
I live in Orange County, California with my husband, 8-year old son, and 120-lb Newfoundland dog. I am passionate about helping people create healthier homes. I don’t preach here, I educate. I am not 100% “green” and will never claim to be, but I make daily improvements in my lifestyle towards that goal. I will never lie to you to sell products, if you don’t want to buy products, no problem, read the blog and see if you learn something new.
There’s a lot that goes on in your home environment. My goal is for you to understand that the decisions you make affect that environment and ultimately your health.
I am not a medical doctor, if you read something here that you feel relates to your health and symptoms you are experiencing, talk to your doctor – maybe together, we can help you finally feel better
A clean environment in which to live, sleep, and play
At Envirosentials, we understand your concerns about the environment in which you live, sleep, and play. Learn more about us at our website, http://www.envirosentials.com, and visit our blog often for tips on how to improve your footprint on our planet through green living.
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