Air Health Our Health AirHealthOurHealth

Turns out that Spring Cleaning can be pretty powerful- it can help or harm us. I often struggle to understand volatile organic compounds or VOCs. Plenty of products are marketed as "low VOC"- is that better?

To learn more about how these chemicals interact in our homes, I interviewed Dr. Delphine Farmer , a Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University. She is an atmospheric chemist who studies the air we breathe both indoors and outdoors. Her work has included projects such as the House Observations of Microbial and Environmental Chemistry (HOMEChem) study, which was a collaborative field investigation designed to probe how everyday activities influence the emissions, chemical transformations and removal of gasses and particles in indoor air. She has also studied how wildfire smoke and VOCs interact with our homes in the CASA study. We discuss VOCs, how we cook, clean, and ventilate our homes. She provides great tips for ensuring a health home environment- all in time for that Spring Cleaning!

To Do:

- Think through the simple steps mentioned by Professor Farmer to keep your home air clean. Consider wiping down surfaces with soap and water after a wildfire event or other big pollution event.

- To learn more about NO2 and gas appliances, listen to the episode “The Fire Inside” with Dr. Laura Paulin. 

- For more on ionizing technology and other things marketed as air cleaners, listen to the episode “Clearing the Air about Ionizers, Hydrogen Peroxide & More- the 4 D's of Safer Air with Ken Martinez"

- To learn more about cleaning agents and their risk to health, you can listen to "Cleaning Agents, Chronic Bronchitis, and Latino Lung Health" with Alejandro Diaz

- Finally, consider a donation to the American Lung Association, which works to educate about the importance of healthy indoor air.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Visit blog post for more information, or go to airhealthourhealth.org.

Follow and comment on Facebook page and Instagram. 






---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/airhealthourhealth/message

Dr Jeremy T. Hua MD, MPH is a lung doctor at National Jewish Health  in the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. He specializes in patients who get sick from where they work and how we can help keep them healthy.

Today we discuss crystalline silica and the booming lung disease caused by inhaling it. Many of the workplaces are smaller, and employers may be unaware of the risk to employees or be put at a competitive disadvantage if they do address the risk and wider standards are not in place to protect all workers. However, the products involving quartz are everywhere, often in our kitchens, bathrooms and more.

Listen and learn how so many of the products in are lives increasingly use engineered stone, how silica exposure is increasing, and what needs to be done.



To Do

- Learn more about silicosis from the American Lung Association or at the post for this episode. 

- When considering a kitchen upgrade or other changes, consider avoiding engineered stone unless you know it has been made with high safety standards in place. 

- Write to your members of Congress to encourage robust funding and staffing of OSHA and MSHA. 

- Listen to last month’s podcast episode about coal mining and silica with Dr. Drew Harris to learn more about how to support miners.

- Consider a donation to the American Lung Association, who advocates for patients with lung diseases including Silicosis.

(Episode cover art from ALA Silicosis resources)



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Visit blog post for more information, or go to airhealthourhealth.org.

Follow and comment on Facebook page and Instagram. 

Record a question or comment on the podcast site or send an e-mail via the website. 




---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/airhealthourhealth/message

This is a special bonus episode to bring you some good clean air and climate news. Advocacy is often hard and frustrating, but it is important to celebrate when improvement is made. On February 7th, 2024, the EPA released it’s final rule for the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (or NAAQS) for particulate matter pollution, lowering the annual standard to 9 ug/m3. The previous standard was 12ug/m3. If you’ve been listening to this podcast, you know that we’ve covered in multiple episodes how people were sickening and dying from lung disease, heart disease and more at levels below 12. For context, the WHO advises a standard of 5, and the American Thoracic Society has been advising a standard of 8 for years. 



It includes an update on what has happened, and a roundtable in which I participated as a representative of the American Thoracic Society.



It's important to celebrate the steps forward in advocacy!



Learn more from the EPA announement here.

Read the ALA response here.

Read the ATS response here.



The photo is of EPA administrator Michael Regan pictured with advocates from EcoMadres and Moms Clean Air Force after the signing on Feb 7th.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/airhealthourhealth/message

Dr. Drew Harris, MD, FCCP is a lung doctor who specializes in lung disease related to coal mine dust and is passionate about healthcare for rural and disadvantaged populations. He serves as the medical director of the Black Lung Program at Stone Mountain Health Services in southwest Virginia. He joins me today to discuss the black lung crisis in Central Appalachia, where over 1000 people have been diagnosed recently with progressive massive fibrosis, the most feared form of black lung disease. We discuss today what causes this completely preventable disease, how we can prevent it, and what makes for effective and equitable advocacy in often toxic political climates.

To Do:

1- Contact your members of Congress to tell them that you are worried about the health of people who produce our energy. Insist on occupational safety standard improvement for coal workers and other miners. 

2- From coal workers lung disease to pollution of local communities to climate change, energy derived from coal is unhealthy. See what you can do in your own community to transition off of fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources. 

3- Learn more about this issue from the Appalachian Voice at appvoices.org.

4- If you work in healthcare or have someone in your life affected by lung disease, look into Chest Advocates to learn more about how to advocate in your own community.

5- If you want a framework for how to start advocating, check out the “Clean Air and Climate Advocacy for Busy People” episode from earlier in the season.

6 - Consider a donation to the Appalachian Citizens Law Center at aclc.org who provides free legal representation to coal miners.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Visit blog post for more information, or go to airhealthourhealth.org.

Follow and comment on Facebook page and Instagram. 

Record a question or comment on the podcast site or send an e-mail via the website. 



---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/airhealthourhealth/message

Happy 2024!
Today's episode is a brief one to wish you Happy New Year and to highlight the important issue of radon. You may or may not know if you have been listening to this podcast that January is Radon Action Month. It is important to understand the risk of radon in your home, school and workplace and at a minimum to make sure that your home has been tested if appropriate.

To Do:

- Ensure your home is tested for radon– test every 2-5 years if you have not mitigated radon and after home upgrades. More information ⁠here⁠

- Watch and share ⁠Mateo’s video⁠ from Season Two of the podcast educating about the importance of radon testing and action. Listen to that episode for more about public health and equity issues around radon.

- The ⁠EPA ⁠estimates around 1 in 5 schools may have elevated radon levels in at least one  frequently-occupied room. Find out if your child’s school has been tested for radon and whether it has been mitigated, particularly if close to or over the EPA action level of 4.0 pCi/L

- If you are a health professional, learn more about patient outreach with this ⁠guide to radon⁠.

- For more on the science of radon and how we know it causes cancer, listen to last year’s January podcast with Professor Bill Fields.

- To hear a personal story about someone affected by radon, listen to the podcast with the home inspector Will Graff on Season 1, Episode 22.

- Learn more about the Northwest Radon Coalition ⁠here⁠, and consider a donation to the American Lung Association ⁠here⁠.

- If you are willing, please consider leaving this podcast a five star review wherever you are listening. It helps others discover this resource and share about the importance of healthy air!





-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Visit blog post for more information, or go to airhealthourhealth.org.

Follow and comment on Facebook page and Instagram. 

Record a question or comment on the podcast site or send an e-mail via the website. 




---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/airhealthourhealth/message

How do we find out how air pollution is affecting us at our own county and state level? Dr. Laura Gladson has been a researcher with the Health, Environment, and Policy Program at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management since 2014. On this podcast, we discuss the Health of the Air report, which shows how many people are affected in each state and county by air pollution in excess of recommended ATS standards. We also discuss separating out the toll of wildfire smoke exposure and how it affects communities, and what can be done to decrease the toll.


To Do- 



1- Go to the Health of the Air report to see how impacted your state or county is by air pollution. There is a list by each state at the end of the report. Contact your representatives at every level to see what can be done. Listen to last month’s episode “Clean Air and Climate Advocacy for Busy People” to learn how to get started. 

2- Check the report to see how impacted your state or county is is by wildland fire smoke, and make a plan for protection. Listen to the “Our Health in Wildfire Season” episode to learn more about how to do that. You can also learn more about controlled burns and protecting your home from wildfire in the “Fighting Fire with Fire episode.”

3- You can learn more about ozone from Dr. Nassikas in the “True Cost of Ozone” episode from last season and more about PM2.5 from a host of episodes, including the “What’s in a Standard” episode with Dan Costa from Season 2 and “What’s burning” episode with Dr. Goobie from Season three. 

4- To learn more about personal tools with regards to air pollution, learn more about the Air Quality Index in the “What’s in an Index” episode.

5- Consider a donation to the American Thoracic Society, which funds excellent research like that behind the Health of the Air Report and also advocates for clean air and healthier air quality standards.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Visit blog post for more information, or go to airhealthourhealth.org.

Follow and comment on Facebook page and Instagram. 

Record a question or comment on the podcast site or send an e-mail via the website. 


Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/airhealthourhealth/message