Do you know what effect air quality has on your children?
“Even before a child is born they are at risk of developing serious health issues due to poor indoor air quality. This can lead to lung development issues, premature births and respiratory issues when born.”
After your child is born the effects can be even more harmful. Studies show that children are more vulnerable to breathing in polluted air than adults. For their size, they breathe more air each minute than an adult. Buggies and prams put them at the level of car exhausts and can be exposed to up to 60% more pollution than adults, a study suggests.
If your child breathes high levels of air pollution over a long period, they might be at risk of:
- their lungs not working as well as they grow older
- developing asthma during childhood or as an adult – and if they have asthma already, air pollution can make it worse
- wheezing
- coughs
- lung cancer when they’re older
- infections like pneumonia
Air pollution can be very worrying as there’s only so much we can do about it ourselves. But if your child is healthy, the effects of air pollution are likely to be quite small. The best thing you can do is make sure your child has reduced levels of exposure to both outdoor and indoor pollution.
There are ways to reduce the exposure for you and your children by doing the following things:
- Keep your home well ventilated
- Check for condensation hot spots in the home
- Keep your home at a maintained comfortable temperature
“We have always set real focus on educating customers, including house builders, on the effects of poor ventilation, especially if the systems have not been installed correctly and are delighted to get behind DEFRA’s clean air strategy consultation.”
This new draft outlines very simply that: “Air pollution is the top environmental risk to human health in the UK, and the fourth greatest threat to public health after cancer.”
So how can Vortice help?
Marketing Manager Jennifer Quinn comments: “Centralised mechanical ventilation and heat recovery systems have a huge part to play. The Vort Leto centralised mechanical extract fan by Vortice is a proven success story. The unit is PCDB listed and is suitable for use with a kitchen and up to five wet rooms. This whole house continuous MEV fan complies with ADF system 3 and can be positioned in any orientation. It has a boost facility to increase airflow when occupants are cooking or bathing and once properly commissioned by fan speed and room duct valve adjustment, it can make a big difference to indoor air quality.”
With thanks to www.defra.gov.uk and www.myhealthmyhome.com and www.bbcnews.co.uk
