Indoor Air Pollution, You Just Can't Live With It Anymore

If you suffer miserably from allergies, asthma, or other respiratory illnesses, you should pass the housecleaning chores to someone else, especially when vacuuming or dusting.

Accumulated allergens in our homes, schools, and work places, have been increasing annually since 1980. The need for 'energy conservation' led to improved construction methods which were implemented in the late 1970's. The negative fallout of constructing 'air-tight' buildings resulted in a gradual increase, year after year, of poor indoor air quality and escalating cases of allergies and respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

Asthma (and asthma deaths) especially among children, have steadily increased over this same time period.

Health organizations and government agencies have only recently drawn the correlation between the two. The EPA states that today's children spend 90% of their time indoors and that indoor air quality is 2 to 5 times worse than outdoor air quality and sometimes as much as 100 times worse. Unfortunately, those persons who are most susceptible to the ill-health effects of poor indoor air quality are those persons who spend most of their time indoors such as; infants, toddlers, young children, the elderly, and persons with chronic illnesses.

Visit the EPA's newest website for more info: Indoor air quality in our homes, schools, and work places can be improved. The three best and most cost-effective methods to achieve this are:

1). Education and knowledge, through public service announcements available on the EPA’s new website. Contact your local media outlets and have the messages broadcasted.

2). Control the sources, utilize “offensive” tactics to remove or reduce indoor air pollutants and allergens

3). Ventilation, more “tightly” constructed buildings have led to allergen and pollutant build-ups. Increase ventilation with fresh air to dilute contaminated air and exhaust pollutants to the outdoors.

Several multi-million dollar industries and many corporations, all with very 'deep pockets,' market and promote their own self-serving solutions to indoor pollution while doing a huge disservice to consumers. The “defensive” products that are aggressively advertised, are merely band-aids to the indoor air quality problem and do not go on the “offense” to attack the sources.

As an example, costly air purifiers, dust mite-proof mattress pads and bedding, filters, and vacuum cleaners, are all claimed to be, by the manufacturers, the 'be all/end all' solution to consumers’ indoor air problems.

In our homes, the bedroom harbors the most quantities of allergens. The bedroom also happens to be the one area we spend most of our time...sleeping in our cozy, comfortable beds. When we arrive home from school, work, or play, the bedroom is where we normally go to change our clothes. We inadvertently transport many allergens into our homes and in particular, our bedrooms, on our clothing, shoes, coats, hair and hats.

The bedroom becomes a 'dumping ground' for allergens such as pollen, molds, mildew, pet dander, and even insects. Supposedly safe and cozy in our beds, our bodies provide warmth, humidity and food, for a microscopic ecosystem to thrive. Dust mite allergens (DMA's) are the #1 indoor allergen just as pollen is the #1 allergen found outdoors.

It should be no wonder then, that the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI) has suggested that 50% of ALL ILLNESSES may be caused by, or further aggravated by, poor indoor air quality. The wonder should be…what took so long and why hasn’t the public been informed of the severity of this problem before.

Attacking the #1 source of indoor allergens (DMA's) living, thriving, and breeding in our unhygienic mattresses, followed by utilizing new found knowledge and improving housekeeping practices starting in our bedrooms, not only makes sense, but will also allow each of us to live a more comfortable life.

Due to past personal family experiences, the business enterprise 'SterilMattress' was formed to assist the millions of American's (1 in 5) who suffer adverse health effects due to poor indoor air quality. Working in partnerships with health organizations, SterilMattress is compelled to help educate the U.S. public concerning this increasingly problematic issue. Additionally, SterilMattress offers the necessary specialized equipment available, at the lowest possible cost, and the technical advice needed to assist entrepreneurs with establishing their own successful and environmentally 'green' Home Indoor Allergen Control business.

Helpful Tips For Preventing Dust Mites In The Home

The most comprehensive list of tips available on the Internet, can be found in the no-cost ebook '76 Tips to Reduce Dust Mites and Indoor Allergens' at the following link: http://www.sterilmattress.com/ebook_dust_mite_removal_tips.html

Tom Hefter, Founder/Owner, SterilMattress http://www.sterilmattress.com