It’s no secret that colds and flu are becoming more common and there are a multitude of contributing factors.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Environmental Protection Agency are continually reinforcing the need for us to take extra precautions and measures to prevent sickness and exposure to harmful viruses by purifying, sanitizing and sterilizing our environment as much as possible.
- Studies by the Environmental Protection Agency and other researchers have found that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are common in the indoor environment and that their levels may be ten to thousands of times higher indoors than found in the outdoor air. There may be anywhere from 50 up to hundreds of individual VOCs in an indoor air sample.
- Volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions.
Learn more about VOCs at epa.gov
- Organic chemicals are widely used as ingredients in household products. Paints, varnishes, and wax all contain organic solvents, as do many cleaning, disinfecting, cosmetic, degreasing, and hobby products. Fuels are made up of organic chemicals. All of these products can release organic compounds while you are using them, and, to some degree, when they are stored.
- EPA's Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) studies found levels of about a dozen common organic pollutants to be 2 to 5 times higher inside homes than outside, regardless of whether the homes were located in rural or highly industrial areas. Additional TEAM studies indicate that while people are using products containing organic chemicals, they can expose themselves and others to very high pollutant levels, and elevated concentrations can persist in the air long after the activity is completed.
Source: United States Environmental Protection Agency