Transcript for the Piece Audio version of QUEST Sniffing Out Indoor Air Pollution

From KQED Radio News, I?m Andrea Kissack, with Quest, a weekly series exploring California science and environment.

Most people think of their house as a sanctuary from toxic air. But indoor air pollution can be at least as potent as what you breathe outdoors. Amy Standen asked an air quality specialist to sniff out the air pollutants inside a typical San Francisco home, and explain what can be done about them.

Ambi ?Watch your head?? walking downstairs?

If you want to know more about what you?re breathing inside your home, the best place to look is down.

GOLDEN We?re interested in all the access points, any kinds of crawl spaces that exist, also any kinds of supply ducts?

Matt Golden, the CEO of Sustainable Spaces, a San Francisco commercial air monitoring company, is here to run tests on this small stucco house in the city?s Miraloma District. But before Golden gets all his equipment out of the car, his first stop is the basement, to learn more about how air moves inside the house.

GOLDEN The heat rises in a house, and literally pushes against the top of the house. So it?s literally sucking the air from the bottom of the house up and pulling it into the house. And it?s bringing in outside unconditioned air, so that?s kind of an energy issue, but it?s also pulling in air from kind of the worst places in the house.

Golden?s tests show that about 80 percent of the air in this house is being pulled up from the basement storage area, and the garage. The next step is to find out what?s in that air.

GOLDEN. When we put this air quality monitor in it will be interesting to see if we can pick up the carbon monoxide from the car to? the house. Because likely all of that is being actually drafted into the rest of the house.

In some parts of the country, the biggest concern in basements like this would be radon - a naturally occurring radioactive gas that?s one of the leading causes of lung cancer. But radon is rare in the Bay Area, and Golden focuses on far less exotic substances.

GOLDEN We have some uh.. drain cleaner is a good one.. roach killing powder, um?

Underneath a drafty stairwell are shelves holding about a decade?s worth of old household chemicals.

GOLDEN We just have a wide variety of kind of a chemical soup.

No seal is completely airtight, so even with the lids closed, these chemicals are evaporating. But could such small amounts of airborne chemicals really be harmful? Mark Mendell is an epidemiologist studying indoor air pollution at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

MENDELL: You can be pretty sure those things aren?t doing anyone any good.

Mendell says scientists in this country are just starting to understand the health effects of airborne household chemicals. Some products contain carcinogens, like methylene chloride, which is found in paint strippers and solvents, or benzene, which is in diesel exhaust and fresh paint. Many other common chemicals can trigger lung problems.

MENDELL There's a substantial amount of science from Europe, no one in this country has bothered to look at it, saying that if you have soft plastics, fresh paint, formaldehyde around your children or your infants, or even when you're pregnant you're increasing the risks of respiratory and allergic and asthmatic health effects.

In 2005, a study commissioned by the California Air Resources Board found that the health impacts of indoor air pollution cost Californians $45 billion dollars a year. Chemicals, car exhaust, and indoor tobacco smoke are part of the problem, but so is mold. The Sustainable Spaces team will be running tests for that, too, but by the looks of things, the evidence is already in.

MOLSICK This is fun.

Pam Molsick also works for Sustainable Spaces. She?s inspecting a small, slightly dank studio apartment at the back of the house.

MOLSICK The first thing you notice are the windows and there?s extreme condensation on there. They?ve had mold grow behind the dresser, um, behind the bed. And those are places which are typical.

There?s one simple solution to many mold problems: heat. When Golden and Molsick release their final report on the house, the top recommendation is for an upgraded heating system.

But air tests have also turned up high levels of potentially toxic gasses in the living room, above the garage. Golden suspects car exhaust and household chemicals are partly to blame, but it?s difficult to pinpoint the source. So the company?s advice - here and in many other homes -- is simply to be cautious. Ventilate, to disperse car exhaust fumes. Get rid of toxic household chemicals, or keep them outside. Use non-toxic paints. In other words, says epidemiologist Mark Mendell, don?t assume that everything at the hardware store is safe.

MENDELL In the United States, more often than not, I believe that the rights of the manufacturer have been considered paramount and unless there is very, very strong evidence of harm, often a product is continued to be available.

Attempts to regulate indoor air quality have met mixed results in California. Last year, a bill aimed to give the state more authority over indoor air quality and a range of household chemicals died on the Assembly floor. But laws on specific chemicals have been more successful. Particle board, for instance, often contains high levels of formaldehyde, which is associated with cancer. Last month, California became the first state in the country to phase out that use of the chemical.

For Quest, this is Amy Standen, KQED Radio News.

To learn more about indoor air quality visit www.kqed.org/quest

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