How states can better regulate indoor air quality
What’s contaminating our indoor air?
How the air we breathe can help or harm us
- Lead to respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer.
- Exacerbate asthma symptoms.
- Increase student and teacher absenteeism, disrupting the learning process and student performance.
What states can do
- Setting up state advisory councils to set standards appropriate for states’ needs.
- Requiring that indoor air quality be measured and the results posted publicly.
- Setting up a system for people to report health impacts potentially caused by bad air and for the state to investigate these reports and order necessary fixes.
- Make sure legislation is actually enforced.
- Have authorities test IAQ and publish reports in buildings—not unlike restaurant health inspections.
- Educate the public about IAQ and the benefits of clean air.
- Allow experts to determine what levels of indoor pollution are and are not acceptable.
- Incentivize building owners to maintain clean air in their properties.
Why we need consistent regulation
What you can do right now
- If your home has an HVAC system, installing a higher efficiency filter, such as a MERV 13, will greatly improve filtration.
- People whose homes use natural ventilation rather than central air conditioning can create DIY portable air cleaners simply by attaching a MERV 13 filter to a box fan made in 2012 or later (window units don’t work).
- Run a portable HEPA air cleaner continuously in a room where people are gathered to keep house guests or coworkers safer.
- Consider installing a carbon dioxide detector to make sure your home has optimal air ventilation.
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