06/29/2012 // Riverdale, NJ, USA // Camfil Farr USA // Lynne Laake // (press release)
Almost 25 million Americans — including an estimated 7 million children — suffer from asthma, a serious, sometimes deadly, respiratory disease. While there is no medical cure for the ailment, many suffer needlessly, since the environmental triggers of asthma can be greatly — and rather easily — reduced by properly managing indoor air quality.
Indeed, improving indoor air quality is a potent weapon in the fight on asthma, since Americans spend roughly 90 percent of their time indoors, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Techniques and technologies that keep indoor air comfortable — such as the use of high efficiency air filters — also keep us safe, by removing dangerous particles from the indoor environment, including many asthma triggers.
These triggers, which can cause asthma symptoms and attacks — come in many forms. Asthma suffers can react differently to different triggers, but all are cause for concern. The most prevalent triggers include:
— Outdoor air pollution. It’s a little known fact that the worse pollution is outdoors, the worse it can be indoors, at least in locations that do not have proper air filtration systems installed. That’s because outdoor air pollution is caused by small particles, from sources like car exhaust, smoke, and factory emissions. Without adequate air filtration, these particles enter the indoor environment, where they can cause illness.
— Dust and dust mites. Ordinary dust, and the tiny bugs — called mites — that live within it can also act as asthma triggers. While dust is invariably present both in homes and in commercial settings, its dangers, too, can be mitigated by using high-efficiency air filters and clean air solutions. Vacuuming is also effective in reducing risk, though asthma suffers should always be sure to leave an area that is being vacuumed.
— Secondhand smoke. Few people realize that secondhand smoke — whether from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes — is made up of more than 4,000 substances. Some of these compounds act as asthma triggers; some can even cause cancer. Because children breathe more rapidly than adults, and take in more secondhand smoke, the risks they face are particularly worrisome.
— Mold. These microscopic fungi are found almost anywhere moisture is present. Mold spores — the tiny particles molds create when reproducing — float through indoor air, and for many asthma sufferers, inhaling them can trigger an asthma attack.
— Chemical Irritants. Many cleaning products, adhesives, pesticides, and even cosmetics contain ingredients that can trigger asthma symptoms and episodes. The higher the concentration of these substances in the air, the greater the risk.
The good news is that both commercial air filters and filters for the home have advanced to the point where they can dramatically reduce the amount of trigger particles in the indoor air. Companies like Camfil Farr — the world’s leading provider of clean air solutions — have developed air filters that use innovative designs to maintain their peak efficiency over their service life. That gives them a crucial advantage over more traditionally designed air filters, which tend to degrade sharply as they are used. As a result, they do a more consistent, and more effective, job removing dangerous particles from the air.
What’s more, high-efficiency air filters have been shown to reduce energy costs even as they optimize indoor air quality. Because they don’t suffer the dramatic degradation of traditional designs, these advanced filters require less energy to move air through the filter. In fact, Camfil Farr customers — which include not just schools but manufacturers, hospitals, hotels, and other businesses — have been able to reduce their HVAC energy costs by up to 40 percent.
Asthma is a serious problem that requires serious solutions. But as the new generation of high-efficient air filters shows, those solutions can be effective from both the perspective of performance and cost. That’s a win-win that gives us an even greater victory: reducing the risk, and impact, of a potentially life-threatening disease.
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