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Fresh Air & Plants
[Sick Building Syndrome] [List of Plants] [Mold]
[Personal Breathing
Zone]
We are used to thinking of the
indoor
environment as a safe haven from the woes of air
pollution. During "smog alerts" people are generally
advised to stay indoors. Yet modern scientific research
indicates that the indoor environment may be as much as ten
times more polluted than the outdoor environment. In the
early 1950's Dr T. G. Randolph became one of the first
medical doctors to associate indoor air pollution with
allergies and other chronic illnesses. The US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently
ranks
indoor air pollution as one of the top five threats to
public health. Yet millions of people fail to realize the
serious nature of the problem, or even worse, fail to
recognize that there is a problem.
 Having
suffered allergies most of my life I
know how important it is to breathe fresh air. Air
cleaners (Hepa type) were my means of
gasping any fresh air possible. But they were noisy,
costly and used a great deal of electricity while not being
effective with chemical reduction. I still one air cleaner in my bedroom to reduce dust and give me some white noise for sleeping purposes. Since
suffering from FM/MPS/CFIDS, breathing was becoming
increasingly difficult.
Upon listening to a talk radio program discussing the
topic of purifying the air of your home with certain
houseplants, I bought a book that they referred to
and began picking out the plants that fit in with my
home environment. It has worked well for me! Not only is
the air cleaner in my home also my allergies are
significantly reduced.
"In research
designed to create a
breathable environment for a NASA lunar habitat,
noted scientist Dr. B.C. Wolverton discovered that
houseplants are the best filters of common pollutants such
as ammonia, formaldehyde, and bensene. Hundreds of these
poisonous chemicals can be released by furniture,
carpets, and building material, and then trapped by
closed ventilation systems, leading to a host of
respiratory and allergic reactions now called Sick
Building Syndrome...."
"Studies show that Americans spend ninety percent of
their lives indoors, which means that good indoor air
quality is vital for good health."
*Taken from
book:"How To Grow Fresh Air" by Dr. B.C.
Wolverton. (Penguin
Books) 
Phalaenopsis -
Mt.Kaala
"The
highest mission of plants is not merely to please our eyes
with color, our mouths with delicious fruits. Not only do
they do this and more, but they are ever silently but
surely eating up what is impure and injurious to
ourselves in the atmosphere and in the earth all around
our homes; and any dwelling in which plants are well
and healthily grown will be more likely to be a clean
and healthy house than if plants were not
there."
Attributed to the Ladies' Floral
Cabinet, 19th century.
Symtoms associated with sick
building syndrome:
- Allergies
- Asthma
- Eye,nose and throat irritations
- Fatique
- Headache
- Nervous-system disorders
- Respiratory congestion
- Sinus congestion
"I durst not laugh for fear of opening my
lips
and receiving the bad air."
Julius Caesar, William
Shakespeare
...In the early 1950's Dr T. G.
Randolph became one of
the first medical doctors to associate indoor air
pollution with allergies and other chronic illnesses.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently
ranks indoor air pollution as one of the top five
threats to public health.
...Ventilation helps to control indoor air polution by
diluting stale indoor air with fresh outside air. Of
course, a presumption is made that the outside air is
clean, which may not be the case.
...Respiratory infections are a well-known consequence
of poorly maintained air-conditioning systems.
Maintenance of such systems is an important factor in
assuring good air quality.
The Legionella bacterium, the cause of
Legionnair's disease, has been identified in cooling
towers and other stagnant water reservoirs.
Sick Building
Syndrome
Formaldehyde is the most common
cause of "sick
building syndrome." When it is emitted from manufactured
goods in its gaseous form, it is a pollutant of indoor air.
Plywood, particle board, carpets, fabrics, and many other
products contain formaldehyde.
The EPA pointed out that high energy costs encourage
the development of right buildings with poor ventilation.
The use of so many chemicals, along with synthetic
materials, cleaning agents, pesticides, perfumes, and
printing and copying machines can cause "sick building
syndrome."
In "sick building syndrome," look
for buildings that
have high occupant density. Improper ventilation along
with a high occupancy causes high levels of carbon dioxide
levels in work areas and not enough oxygen. If new carpets
are installed with no fresh-air ventilation, some people
will not be able to work without getting sick. Poor indoor
air quality may affect 800,000 to 1.2 milion commercial
buildings in the United States. About one billion dollars
are lost every year due to sick leave, lost earnings and
productivity.
SBS -
Disgruntled
Many plants are effective air
purifiers. NASA has
done studies to find out which plants could remove
toxic chemicals from the air in space stations. If you
want to use them to clear the air then you need to put
many of them into your home or work place. The plants
that are all around effective, on the top of the list
in cleaning the air of formaldehyde, benzene, and
trichloroethylene are:
- Mass Cane (Dracaena
massangeana)
- Banana (Musa oriana)
- Ficus (Ficus benjamina)
- English Ivy (Hedera helix)
- Chinese Evergreen (Algona "silver queen")
- Pot Mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)
- Bamboo Palm (Chamedorea seifrizzi)
- Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera Jamesonii)
- Marginata (Dracaena marginata)
- Peace Lily (Spathiphylum "Moana Loa")
- Mother-in-laws-tongue (Sansevieria laurentii)
- Janet Craig (Dracaena deremensis)
- Green Spider Plant (Chloropytum elatum)
- Heart-leaf Philodendron (Philodendron
exycardium)
- Warnecki (Dracaena deremensis)
Other Aspects of
Indoor Air Quality
According to
Dr. B.C. Wolverton; bioeffluents released during human
respiration also increase IAQ problems. Houseplants can be
very effective in removing bioefluents from the ambient
air.
Bioeffluents and VOC's (volatile organic chemicals) are
not the only contributors to poor indoor air quality. The
presence of airborne microbes, such as mold spores, and low
relative humidity are also determining factors in the
quality of the air. Dry air, typical of the indoor
environment during winter, irritates sensitive membranes in
the nose and throat, increasing susceptibility to assaults
by airborne chemicals, viruses, mold spores, dust and
allergens.
Plants also release phytochemicals
that suppress mold spores and bacteria found in the ambient
air. Recent research findings show that plant-filled rooms
contained 50-60 percent fewer airborne molds and bacteria
than rooms without plants.
In Wolverton's
book "How To Grow Fresh Air" (Penguin Books), he has a
plethora of charts showing all the scientific factors.
After more than 15 years of extensive research in both
laboratory and "real world" environments, we now have a
basic understanding of how plants function to improve
indoor air quality. Most houseplants, whose origins
began uderneath the canopy of tropical rainforests, have
evolved over millions of years. These plants naturally
thrive in dimly lighted, warm and humid environments.
Nature has equipped these plants with the ability to
culture microbes on and around their roots that can degrade
complex organic structures found in leaves and other jungle
debris. Plant leaves can also absorb gaseous organic
substances and digest or translocate them to their roots
where they serve as food for microbes. Transpiration is
another means plants have of moving air-polluting
substances to microbes around their roots. High
transpiration rates create convection currents that cause
air flow. As water rapidly moves from roots up through
plants, air is pulled down into the soil around the roots.
This is one means by which plants can supply oxygen and
gaseous nitrogen to their root microbes. Nitrogen gas can
also be converted by root micobes into nitrate, a plant
food.
Personal Breathing
Zones
A personal breathing zone
is an area of 6 to 8 cubic ft (0.17 to 0.23 cu.m),
surrounding an individual. These are usually areas where
an individual remains for several hours, such as at a desk
or computer, watching television or asleep. Plants place
within a personal breathing zone can add humidity, remove
bioeffluents and chemical toxins, and suppress airborne
microbes. These benefits are in additon to their aesthetic
and psychological values. Enhanced, fan-assisted planters
have also been developed by Woverton Environmental
Services, Inc. that have the VOC-removal capacity of
approsimately 200 houseplants. These filters are highlly
effective within personal breathing zones.
 
  
 
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