Posted on 03/27/2005 8:53:55 PM PST by NormsRevenge
The California agency famous for putting the squeeze on automotive tailpipe emissions is poised to tackle dirty indoor air.
In a hefty report to the Legislature completed this month, the California Air Resources Board asserts that indoor air can be as polluted and dangerous to breathe as outdoor air, costing the state at least $45 billion a year in lost worker productivity, medical expenses and premature deaths.
Yet, by and large, the government does little to stem indoor air pollutants, which come from sources as disparate as cigarettes, gas stoves and certain types of air purifiers.
"Efforts to reduce indoor pollution are not commensurate with the risk it presents," said Dorothy Shimer, an air pollution specialist and co-author of the report.
Among the findings of the 333-page document, which is based on hundreds of scientific studies: The risk of cancer from breathing toxic air contaminants indoors - such as formaldehyde - is comparable to the risk of cancer from breathing diesel exhaust particles outdoors.
"(It's) an astounding finding, and I think that it means that we have to elevate the priority of indoor air pollution," said Bonnie Holmes-Gen, assistant vice president for governmental relations at the American Lung Association of California.
How much state government is able to clean indoor air will depend upon the Legislature, because the air resources board considers the indoors a realm beyond its regulatory reach.
"Our entire authority is outdoors," said Richard Bode, chief of the health and exposure assessment branch of the air board, which is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Moreover, Californians, like the rest of the industrialized world, spend some 87 percent of their time indoors, according to the report.
Nazaroff said scientists have known since the 1970s that indoor pollution is a problem. Researchers suspect that dirty indoor air contributes to the ills, such as asthma, that we associate with exposure to pollution outdoors. But historically, public attention has centered on large emissions sources: factories, power plants, cars, etc.
read tomorrow
No beans, brussels sprouts, or burittos.
So9
More lunacy from the Left Coast.
Groundwork is being laid for banning ciagrettes statewide.
fyi
It's just not fair that gov't can't come indoors to regulate us more.
Um....could you Californian's PLEASE find something better for these people to do.....couldn't you create some other problem for them to attack? PLEASE?! Sheesh. Oh, I forgot, San Francisco is home to the most TRUST FUNDERS of all!
"Groundwork is being laid for banning ciagrettes statewide."
Yeppers!
The failure to mention candles, esp. scented candles as a source of indoor "air pollution" is really notable. I've always seen them included in articles on this subject. I guess that wouldn't be kosher in the land of aroma-therapy.
Isn't it usually those "Green" buildings that end up making people sick?
THE EPA sees it as the wave of the future. :-o Yikes!
http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/
it's all about 'lifecycle impact' or something.. ;-)
It's all just part of the movement..
Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA)
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pcia.html
The Partnership for Clean Indoor Air was launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg to address the increased environmental health risk faced by more than 2 billion people in the developing world who burn traditional biomass fuels indoors for cooking and heating.
According to the World Health Organization, their increased exposure results in an estimated 1.6 million premature deaths each year, largely among women and children. The mission of the Partnership is to improve health, livelihood, and quality of life by reducing exposure to air pollution, primarily among women and children, from household energy use.
If it is only a matter of lost revenue to the state, can we ask, How much is lost to the state when companies move out due to over regulation? It has been far more than $45 billon.
Gas stoves cause indoor pollution? What, all that carbon dioxide and water produced by the burning of the natural gas is too polluting? What next? banning gas stoves, gas furnaces, gas water heaters? I guess I can eat my food raw, freeze, and take cold showers. Great.
Good point and fair question. Thanks!
You got that right. And if it leans any more left, we are going to fall into the ocean.
Ask the morons from PETA, ALF, ELF, RUCKUS, Greenpeace, NRDC - what they think their "animal-free" synthetic clothing and shoes are all made of :
Oil by-products, coal, wood, etc.
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