 Radio Script 1999 __________________
Indoor Air Pollution Don't have RealAudio player? Download free software.
INTRO: How many of you have a garage attached to your home? If you raised your hand, you might want to listen to our next story, because as Doug Schneider reports in today's Arctic Science Journeys, some of the things in your attached garage are hazardous to your health. STORY: Garages in Alaska are a lot like garages elsewhere. Often there's a lawnmower parked in a corner, and a chainsaw under the workbench. Or maybe you have one of those nifty weed-eaters--you know, the kind that play out a strand of nylon thread that slices and dices weeds down to size? But if yours is a real Alaskan garage, you likely have snow machines, outboard motors and a snow blower jammed in there too. And while these toys might be a lot of fun, the gasoline fumes they release are hazardous to your health. That's according to a study on indoor air pollution just completed by Ph.D. researcher Maggie Isbell at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. ISBELL: "Well, what we found from our research and our results were surprisingly high levels of benzene and toluene in indoor air in homes with attached garages in the summer time." Benzene and toluene are chemicals commonly found in gasoline fumes. Of the two, she says benzene is the most likely to cause health problems. ISBELL: "Benzene as a chemical itself is a carcinogen, a cancer-causing agent. It has been directly linked to different kinds of cancer and linked to leukemia, and linked to immunosuppression of bone marrow production in blood cells. This is well documented in studies that looked at occupational exposures to benzene before benzene began to be regulated in the workplace." But very little is known about benzene in the home. For her study, Maggie Isbell tested the air inside several Fairbanks area homes equipped with attached garages. She did this over the course of one recent summer and again last winter. The highest benzene and toluene concentrations were found during the summer. That's probably because gasoline is more likely to be stored in the attached garage at this time. Much lower concentrations were noted during winter. ISBELL: "In fact, what we found is that the levels of these pollutants decreased with the outdoor temperature. And we believe that's because of the stack effect. The stack effect is just like a chimney--the fact that cold air comes in at the bottom of the house and gets warmed up and rises to the roof. It's a convection phenomenon. And so it creates a stack effect. The colder it is outside, the more air that comes in around cracks and crevices downstairs. Definitely, airtight houses try to prevent a lot of that from happening, but nobody can achieve 100 percent. So we believe that helped dilute the indoor air because there was more air exchange at lower temperatures." And while summertime concentrations of these chemicals were high, they were still far below the federal EPA workplace standard of one part per million. Nevertheless, Maggie Isbell says long-term exposure could still be unsafe, and that there's an easy solution to the problem. ISBELL: "I think what I would suggest if it were my home and I had an attached garage, I would take all of the small engines I mentioned and put them in a shed out back. I would rely on the good vapor seals on my car engines to hold back most of the vapors from gasoline. I would still put my cars in the garage, but I'd move the other things to a shed." Maggie Isbell shared her findings with scientists gathered recently in Denali National Park, Alaska, at the Arctic Chapter of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. OUTRO: Arctic Science Journeys is produced by the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This is Doug Schneider reporting.
Our thanks to the following individual for help in the preparation of this script:
Maggie Isbell If you'd like more information about indoor pollution and benzene, check out these websites:
Indoor Air Quality links
Arctic Science Journeys is a radio service highlighting science, culture, and the environment of the circumpolar north. Produced by the Alaska Sea Grant College Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Alaska Sea Grant Homepage The URL for this page is http://seagrant.uaf.edu/news/99ASJ/10.15.99_AirPollution.html |
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