DON'T BREATHE! breathing is hazardous to your health! or, How to put the "Fresh" back into your Air - Dec. 2000

-- Westfield:  I'd like to tell you a corny story. Ten years ago a carpenter working on a new addition to our building beomoaned the fact that he was ill and expressed the profound sentiment that the essential "problem with being sick is that you don't feel well." Of course, his statement, while simplistic, is incontrovertibly true, and I occasionally repeat it to various family members when a cold or the flu strikes, usually to the accompaniment of a wry grimace from the listener.

 

"What does this have to do with the air that we breathe?" continues Keith Petersen of The Eardly T. Petersen Company in Westfield; "just this, that, in the same simplistic way, if you didn't breathe air, you wouldn't be breathing in the myriad of pollutants that are befouling the indoor air environment." The EPA has labeled Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) problems as constituting one of the top environmental health problems in the country. Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services in this country says, "Today in the United States we are confronting an epidemic of asthma. Each year asthma ...... is estimated to cost the U.S. economy $11 billion in healthcare costs and lost productivity."

 

The EPA further states: These fine particles are so small that several thousand of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence. They are of health concern because they easily reach the deepest recesses of the lungs. Batteries of scientific studies have linked particulate matter, especially fine particles (alone or in combination with other air pollutants), with a series of significant health problems, including:

Premature death;

Respiratory related hospital admissions and emergency room visits;

Aggravated asthma;

Acute respiratory symptoms, including aggravated coughing and difficult or painful breathing;

Chronic bronchitis;

Decreased lung function that can be experienced as shortness of breath; and

Work and school absences

Obviously, we all have to breathe - usually every few seconds - so, what is the solution? The EPA has a short list of recommendations: (1) increase the amount of fresh air inside (2) reduce or eliminate allergens/indoor air pollutants. Let's examine these suggestions.

 

1.) Increase fresh air inside (increase ventilation): If we can increase the amount of fresh air indoors, we can help to combat indoor air pollutants. Why? Fresh, clean air by definition is, itself, both free of harmful pollutants and also contains natural constituents that aid in the reduction and elimination of other harmful pollutants. So, this is a very good idea. The problem, however, is that the outdoor air for most people is not all that clean to begin with and, more specifically, it is simply not effective to bring cold outside air into an indoor environment in the winter months (we're trying to heat the inside environment!) and hot outside air into the indoor environment in the summer months. The opposite is true - we are bottled up in tightly insulated indoor spaces.

 

2.) Reduce/eliminate indoor contaminants: If we can get rid of the allergens, the allergen-related health issues should go away. Another good idea, isn't that right? However, how is oneself going to get rid of the dust mites (hundreds of millions of them in most homes), mold spores (one of the most ubiquitous life forms on earth - they are everywhere - waiting to colonize), bacteria (most are beneficial; but, many are disease-causing), viruses (no need to comment), dander from animals (a particularly potent allergen - give away the dog? most people refuse), chemical gases (your furniture, walls, paints, wallpapers, most rugs, cleaning products, heating and cooking activities are all producing chemical gases - the average house or office kinda oozes chemicals and is now being identified as being a toxic environment - what happened to "home sweet home")? Oneself would literally have to move outdoors into a clean, pristine environment to get rid of all the above allergens - not a practical suggestion. There are some basic things that can be done - get rid of the carpets, the dog (gulp), the plants (they produce spores!), use hypo-allergenic bedding, etc.; however, most of these measures, while helpful, fall short of effectively eliminating the allergens. There are just too many different kinds of pollutants and too many of each kind!

 

This Indoor Air Quality thing is, then, a problem - a major problem. Two to three out of every five Americans suffers either from allergies or asthma, and it is now being recognized that the Indoor Air Environment is a major culprit. How can the worthy suggestions of the EPA and other professionals be properly implemented to help combat indoor air pollution problems? There is a solution!

 

For the first time in history, there is now a product that: (1) Increases fresh air conditions inside the house or office without bringing in outside air and (2) reduces or eliminates allergens. This product is made by the largest manufacturer of indoor air purification equipment in the world, and is called The Easy Living Air machine. This air purifier - for, such it is - both identically reproduces the way that Nature makes the air fresh and clean outside, and also utilizes a HEPA filter to aid in removing larger particles such as pollens and mold. How, exactly, does it work?

 

Nature purifies and makes fresh the outdoor environment in a number of ways. The wind and rain carry and wash pollutants out of the air, the action of the sunlight every day ionizes and oxidizes outdoor air, and a thunderstorm produces a profoundly fresh and clean environment. A Easy Living Air machine uses the same natural forces that are present in Nature to effectively purify the indoor air environment, and all this in a compact, portable air purifier that operates on a few pennies a day of electricity. One Easy Living Air Machine will purify an indoor environment of up to 3,000 square feet - an easy and extremely cost-effective way to help control indoor allergens. It provides a simple answer to a complex problem.

 

For questions on The Easy Living Air Machine, or, for any questions on other indoor environmental control products, contact The Eardly T. Petersen Company, 224 Elmer St., Westfield, NJ at 908-232-5723, e-mail them sales@etpetersen.com, or visit them on the web at www.etpetersen.com.