American Lung Association Brings Better Indoor Air Quality to Houston

American Lung Association Brings Better Indoor Air Quality to Houston

American Lung Association Teams Up With Trading Spaces' Carter Oosterhouse

HOUSTON, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time, the American Lung Association(R) Health House(R) program has joined the Houston Home Show as part of the organization's ongoing efforts to improve indoor air quality.

Visitors to the American Lung Association Health House exhibit can tour a Health House display and learn simple, reliable methods to make the air inside their homes cleaner and healthier. In another first, carpenter Carter Oosterhouse, from TLC's home improvement series Trading Spaces will join the American Lung Association Health House to demonstrate inexpensive, practical techniques to improve air quality in any home.

"We invite Houston homeowners to stop by to get their remodeling questions answered by Carter at our exhibit during the Houston Home Show," said Steve Klossner, American Lung Association indoor air quality expert. "Carter will also be reminding folks of an important question we tend to forget when building and maintaining our homes, 'How will the choices we make affect the quality of the air inside?'"

Who: Carter Oosterhouse, carpenter and cast member on Trading Spaces and Steve Klossner, indoor air quality expert. What: Q and A with homeowners at the American Lung Association Health House booth at the Houston Home Show. Media welcome. When: Saturday, August 20, 2005 11 AM-Noon and 4PM-5PM Where: American Lung Association Health House, exhibit space #1805 at the Houston Home Show. Why: To offer advice on how to improve the quality of the air we breathe inside our homes.

"Many of us don't realize that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that the air we breathe at home may be two to five times more polluted, and occasionally more than 100 times more polluted, than the air we breathe outdoors," said Klossner. "Since many of us spend as much as 90 percent of our time indoors, this is a critical issue, particularly for the 60 million Americans who live with some form of allergies or asthma."

Exposure to indoor air pollutants -- smoke, dust, pet dander, mold and other pollutants -- can pose serious health risks and can contribute to respiratory disease, asthma and even lung cancer. "The good news," Klossner said, "is that you can significantly reduce, and even eliminate, many causes of indoor air pollution."

The American Lung Association's Health House exhibit will show homeowners how.

The American Lung Association has been fighting lung disease for nearly 100 years through programs of education, advocacy and research, and has long been a leader in the clean air movement. The American Lung Association Health House program, a national education program based in Minneapolis, Minnesota is raising the standard for healthier home environments through its national demonstration homes, training programs for consumers and builders, and educational partnerships and alliances. For more information about the Health House program, call 1-877-521-1491 or visit http://www.healthhouse.org/ . For more information about the American Lung Association's other programs and services, visit http://www.lungusa.org/ .

Fact Sheet

How to Improve Indoor Air Quality in Houston Homes

Houston is a city subject to high ozone levels which can impact resident's health. Outdoor air pollution has an impact on indoor air quality, since outdoor air gets inside homes through windows, air leaks and ventilation systems. Approximately 99 percent of the debris in the air circulating within homes is made up of the tiniest particles that can bypass people's respiratory system defenses.

-- Control pollution at its sources. Do not allow smoking inside your home. Test your home for radon, a radioactive gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer deaths. If the radon levels are high, install a radon ventilation system. Check your home's smoke and carbon monoxide alarms regularly. Replace batteries at least every six months. If you are allergic to dust mites, slip a mite-barrier mattress cover and pillow case on your bed and wash your bedding in very hot water (130 degrees +).

-- Upgrade the air conditioner filter. Ordinary fiberglass filters were originally developed to protect the home's heating and cooling systems, not to significantly improve indoor air quality. Select the highest efficiency filter that works with your furnace. Health House guidelines require a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) rating of 10 or higher, and recommends filters that are also electrostatically charged. Run your air-handling fan continuously and change the filter according to the manufacturer's instructions, usually about every three months.

-- Keep humidity below 50% to control mold and dust mites. Humidistat controlled dehumidifiers can supplement the drying capabilities of air conditioning systems. Run bathroom and kitchen fans while bathing and cooking. Sufficient ventilation is critical to keeping humidity down below 50%. Clean up water spills, fix leaky pipes and roofs, and dry affected areas immediately. Mold can grow in as little as 24 hours.

-- Don't run ductwork through vented, unconditioned spaces. Ductwork can become contaminated as well as draw in contaminated outdoor air.

-- Use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to rid your home of pests. IPM controls pests with the lowest hazard to people, property and the environment by first reducing sources of food, water and shelter for pests in homes. Use the least polluting protections against pests, like physical removal, barriers and traps, before pesticide treatments. If pesticides are necessary, use spot treatments rather than area-wide applications.

Source: American Lung Association

CONTACT: Jackie Renner, Communications Consultant, +1-612-859-2626, or at Houston Home Show, Cindy Johnson, Marketing Communications, +1-612-310-5717, both of American Lung Association

Web site: http://www.lungusa.org/ http://www.healthhouse.org/

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