Indoor Air Quality

WTOP by Abigail Constantino Washington, DC

One D.C. department has housing violation authority but claims it does not have expertise to conduct mold inspections. Another agency has the expertise but no enforcement authority. So, a member of the District’s council now wants to know how this is being reconciled amid ongoing issues at Howard University dorms. At-Large Council Member Christina Henderson in a letter said she wants an update on pending regulations that would give the Department of Energy and Environment, or DOEE, authority over mold remediation enforcement and fines. 

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Food Safety News Arizona

Public health officials in Arizona are reporting a recall of several marijuana products after testing found Salmonella and Aspergillus mold. The Arizona Department of Health Services reports that the recall includes edible products in the forms of honey-like syrup and distillates. Several unidentified dispensaries and other unspecified marijuana-related businesses initiated the recall. Consumers who bought the products listed below are being advised to throw them away. 

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EPA Washington, DC

EPA is rescinding a guidance document entitled “Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Program” that was issued by the Trump administration on January 14, 2021. The previous Administration’s Maui guidance reduced clean water protections by creating a new factor for determining if a discharge of pollution from a point source through groundwater that reaches a water of the US is the “functional equivalent” of a direct discharge to such water. The addition of that factor skewed the “functional equivalent” analysis in a way that could reduce the number of discharges requiring a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The agency determined that this is inconsistent with the Clean Water Act and the Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. 

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NPR by Jeff Brady

National – Gas stoves have become a focal point in a fight over whether gas should even exist in the 35% of U.S. homes that cook with it. Environmental groups are focused on potential health effects. Burning gas emits pollutants that can cause or worsen respiratory illnesses. Residential appliances like gas-powered furnaces and water heaters vent pollution outside, but the stove is the one gas appliance in your home that is most likely unvented. The focus on possible health risks from stoves is part of the broader campaign by environmentalists to kick gas out of buildings to fight climate change. Commercial and residential buildings account for about 13% of heat-trapping emissions, mainly from the use of gas appliances. 

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Harvard School of Public Health

Boston, MA – The air quality within an office can have significant impacts on employees’ cognitive function, including response times and ability to focus, and it may also affect their productivity, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The one-year study, which included participants in offices across six countries working in a variety of fields, including engineering, real estate investment, architecture, and technology, found that increased concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and lower ventilation rates (measured using carbon dioxide (CO2) levels as a proxy) were associated with slower response times and reduced accuracy on a series of cognitive tests. The researchers noted that they observed impaired cognitive function at concentrations of PM2.5 and CO2 that are common within indoor environments. 

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Bloomberg Law by Jennifer Hajazi

National – The air you breathe outside is more heavily regulated than the air you breathe in your home, and air quality advocates want more protection for indoor air quality issues—especially as climate change impacts like fires and heat force people to seek shelter indoors. Harmful indoor air quality has been listed as one of the top five environmental risks to public health, according to Environmental Protection Agency comparative risk studies. Yet there’s no comprehensive regulation that addresses those harms outside of a patchwork of protections and standards of care. 

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Downtown Magazine  by Stacy Gittleman

National – Across the nation, schools, businesses, and office spaces are embroiled in what is known as “hygiene theater” to assure the public that indoor spaces are safe to return to work, learn, shop, exercise, and dine in once the pandemic ebbs. Back at the office, workspace experts are trying their best to implement guidelines from the CDC, repartitioning and reconfiguring layouts to maximize physical distancing of desks, installing plexiglass barriers, and posting one-way foot traffic signs around workstations. Some schools and businesses have deployed high-tech devices for temperature checks as the world figures out how to get back to a new, post-pandemic normal. But prolonged inactivity in all the buildings we normally occupy in day-to-day life has heightened the presence of another underlying hazard lurking in our man-made water systems that not even the CDC’s offices could evade: the presence of Legionella. 

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If you have red, watery eyes, an itchy nose or can’t stop sneezing over the next few weeks, the holidays may be to blame. Don’t laugh. Apparently, “Christmas tree syndrome” is real and is caused by mold, pollen, dust, mites and other irritants that hitch a ride home on your Christmas tree or lay in wait with the decorations you stored last year. “There’s a number of ‘cutely’ named phenomenon that occur – there’s thunderstorm asthma, back-to-school rashes. We have these clinical observations that come from what’s going on in the environment,” said Patricia Lugar, a specialist in allergy and immunology at Duke University School of Medicine.

The risk can be especially high for those with allergies, asthma and other respiratory problems. Damp environments, like crawl spaces, attics and basements found in the Southeast, can make the problem worse, she said, especially for allergy shot patients. “We generally counsel people, particularly allergy shot patients, if you’ve been digging around in the crawlspace or the basement or your attic, wait 24 to 48 hours before you come to get your shot and let things settle down, just to make sure you’re not going to have a problem,” she said. Cardboard and paper boxes can cause the biggest problem, she said.

“Paper boxes are a great recipe for insects, they are a great recipe to become damp and hold dampness, become moldy. Plastic is really the way to go. Just get a bunch of those big plastic bins. They can seal out insects and cockroaches, and they’re also really resistant to moisture.” Don’t be afraid to throw out something either, especially if there is visible moisture damage, discoloration or a musty smell, she said. “The last thing you want to do is open up this incubator of mold spores, and it all goes into your face or you release it into the air, because it’s been sealed in this plastic box,” she said.

10 TIPS FOR A CLEAN CHRISTMAS

• Use a damp cloth to wipe your decorations when removing them from storage
• Avoid scented sprays, candles and other decorations
• Stick with metal and plastic ornaments, and give them a warm, soapy bath, then air dry
• Protect fabric decorations or heirlooms by keeping them in a plastic, vacuum storage-type bag
• Store decorations and artificial trees in plastic bags or bins, not cardboard
• Wear a long-sleeve shirt, gloves and – for especially sensitive people – an N95-rated dust mask to handle the tree or dig through storage
• Remove visible pollen from the tree with a leaf blower
• Wipe the tree’s trunk with a solution of 1 part bleach to 20 parts lukewarm water
• Spray the tree with water and let it dry in an enclosed area outside the home, such as a garage, to dry
• Ditch the poinsettia; it belongs to the rubber family and contains compounds similar to those in latex

By Shivani Vora, New York Times News Service

Monday, April 10, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Did you know that your hotel room has the potential to make you sick? “Hotel rooms can be a hotbed for germs, and the lighting and poor circulation in some make for an unhealthy environment,” said Deepak Chopra, a doctor who specializes in alternative medicine and an author who is also on the advisory board of Delos, a wellness real estate firm that is focused on creating healthier indoor environments.  But no matter where you hang your hat for the night, Chopra said it was possible to make your stay healthier.

Here, he offers his advice on how.

Reduce Contact With Germs: Bedspreads are notorious for holding germs, which is why many hotels use duvets with removable covers that are easy to launder. If your property doesn’t have duvets, request upon check-in that your bedspread be laundered. You can also reduce your exposure to germs by using antibacterial wipes to wipe down commonly used objects, such as television remotes, doorknobs and telephones.

Improve Air Circulation: Paint, furniture and cleaning products degrade the quality of the air inside because they are often made with toxic materials such as formaldehyde. And poor indoor air quality can cause headaches and fatigue. If weather permits, Chopra said, opening a window in your hotel room to allow for circulation can improve air quality. Or, choose a hotel that uses nontoxic cleaning products — the property’s reservations desk should be able to tell you if that’s the case.

Use a Dawn Simulating Alarm Clock: While the hotel’s alarm clock will wake you, Chopra said that waking to sudden loud noise was a stressful way to begin your day. He suggested traveling with a dawn-simulating alarm clock, which gradually transitions your room from a dim glow to full brightness and helps you wake up more naturally. “You can buy one of these alarm clocks for less than $30, and they are big in improving sleep quality,” he said.

Maximize Natural Light: Light is the primary driver that aligns the body’s biological clock and sleep-wake cycle, Chopra said. “You want to rely less on artificial lighting and more on natural light, which can help improve your energy, mood and sleep when you travel,” he said. A simple way to get more natural light is to request a hotel room with a window that opens out to a street, rather than another building. Also, keep the curtains in your room open during the day so that natural light can stream in. Come nighttime, unplug the alarm clock and other electronics that emit sleep-disrupting artificial light.

Watch the In-Room Snacks: Those tempting goodies in your room’s minibar can sometimes be loaded with sugar and artificial ingredients. “Eating these processed and sugary foods is hard on digestion and can cause your energy levels to drop,” Chopra said. He advised traveling with healthy snacks such as whole fruits and raw and roasted nuts.