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Home › Articles › General Safety Issues › What's in the Air?

What's in the Air?

10 Ways to Protect Your Child from Air Pollution

By Laura Cone

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"Our study adds to the growing body of evidence linking air pollution and respiratory deaths," Wilhelm says. "We hope this information helps guide future air-quality standard setting and that infants continue to be considered a particularly sensitive population. For SIDS, I think more research is still needed."

Air-cleaning Systems
Some people think it's safer to be indoors. Although 90 percent of Americans spend their time indoors, the Environmental Protection Agency says pollutant levels of indoor air may be two to five times higher than outdoors.

Tom Rodgers, the air cleaning senior product manager for Aprilaire in Madison, Wis., says new homeowners often do not realize they need a whole-house air-cleaning system because builders construct homes that are tight and prevent natural ventilation.

"You are living in a Ziploc," Rodgers says. "People are moving toward mechanical ventilation versus opening windows. You want to control how much air comes in and out."

Rodgers says an air-cleaning system should be installed near a heating and cooling system so the outside air introduced into the home is first filtered through the cleaning system before circulating the home.

Rodgers says Aprilaire, a brand of indoor air-quality products sold through and installed by HVAC contractors in the United States and Canada, has different whole-home air cleaners in different price ranges. "The advantage is it treats all the air in the whole house, not just a bedroom or playroom or whatever other room the child may be in," he says.

Rodgers, who has a son, two dogs and four cats, has "horrible" allergies and has an air cleaner in his home. "This is not a scientific study, but my mother, who is allergic to cats, can come over to our house and not have to take anything for her allergies," he says.

10 Ways to Outsmart Indoor and Outdoor Pollution

Experts say parents do not need to feel helpless when it comes to air pollution. In addition to buying a whole home humidifier and air cleaners, become informed.

  1. Check the air quality index (AQI) in your area. Newspapers, television and radio stations often report on the AQI.
  2. For air-quality forecasts, visit http://airnow.gov/. For information on ozone, the AQI and how it affects you, click here.
  3. Whenever possible, walk, ride a bicycle or use public transportation to help reduce air pollution from motor vehicles.
  4. Assess whether you want to live in close proximity to power plants and industrial sources of air pollution.
  5. Use high energy-efficient lighting and other energy-efficient appliances. Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
  6. To conserve energy, recycle paper, plastic, glass bottles, cardboard and aluminum cans and reuse materials such as paper bags and boxes.
  7. Properly dispose of household paints, solvents and pesticides. Paint with a brush, not a sprayer.
  8. Have leaky air-conditioning and refrigeration systems repaired.
  9. Check or change your filters every month.
  10. Avoid second-hand smoke by asking people not to smoke in your home or yard.


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