Author Archives: FreshAirPro

The Commercial Appeal reports that 2012 was one of Memphis' smoggiest summers in years, and local air pollution programs remain in turmoil. Despite the record-high pollution levels reported within the city, air quality programs are under strain.

The City Council voted in August 2012 to cut the current $2.7 million inspection program after June 30 to reduce strain on an already tight budget. However, Shelby County could take up the slack and impose a new measuring strategy.

One new plan proposes that Shelby and Memphis residents who own a vehicle should pay a nominal $10 fee to have their vehicles inspected for emissions. However, this is just one proposal out of many.

For Memphis and Shelby County residents, the idea of living with long-term exposure to high levels of air pollution is concerning. Poor air quality has been linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer and respiratory distress. Investing in a home air purifier like the IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier will reduce the presence of harmful toxins within a house.

Most people understand that air quality outdoors can be hazardous to a person’s health at times, depending on the conditions outside and the location. Between wildfires blazing out west to smog hovering overhead in the industrial cities of the east, it seems like many parts of the country are consistently working to decrease air pollution.

However, have you considered the quality of the air in your own home? You might think that the air you’re breathing in your living room or bedroom is safe enough, but it might be more hazardous to your health than you think. According to WebMD, air quality inside homes can be even more polluted than the air outdoors due to dust, mold, fire-retardants, radon, formaldehyde and chemicals in your cleaners and other household items.

In order to improve the air quality in your house, the United State Environmental Protection Agency suggests trying to improve the ventilation in your home. Open windows and doors and turn on fans when able to increase the amount of outdoor air coming indoors.

If you’re worried about bringing outdoor pollutants inside, try using a home air purifier. A purifier can reduce particulate matter and other toxins in your house to make it a more enjoyable, healthier place to live.

Lately it seems like you can't turn on the news without seeing something about wildfires in the Midwest and on the West Coast. The latest area to make headlines is northern Utah where multiple wildfires are contributing to an air pollution problem.

The Salt Lake City Tribune reports that state air-quality officials placed much of northern Utah under a "red" advisory on September 18th due to the smoke coming from the wildfires blazing in central and northern Idaho. The warning covers Salt Lake, Weber, Utah, Davis, Tooele and Box Elder counties. A "yellow" advisory is in other counties around the state.

"Persons with existing heart or respiratory ailments should reduce physical exertion and outdoor activity today," the state’s advisory issued Tuesday morning. "Hazy, smoky conditions in northern Utah valleys continue due to upper air transport of smoke from fires that continue to burn in California and Idaho."

Pictures of the Salt Lake City skyline show the entire metropolitan area is blanketed in smoky haze.  Everyone with sensitive lungs or hearts, such as young or old people, have been advised to stay indoors. It may also be a good idea to keep an air purifier running at this time in homes to capture particulate matter and other harmful toxins.

Most people can agree that there's nothing more satisfying than sinking your teeth into a big, juicy cheeseburger or hamburger. Although summer has come to an end, there's a few more weeks ahead that will likely be warm enough still to fire up the grill and charbroil a burger for everyone in the family. It's a dinner party that certainly everyone will be happy to attend.

However, is it possible that grilling burgers could have an impact on the environment and our air quality? This is what researchers at the University of California, Riverside are saying. According to The New York Times, scientists at the university have concluded that producing a charbroiled hamburger emits the same mass particulate matter as a heavy-duty diesel truck that travels 143 miles. The particulate matter is come from the fatty acids in the meat that fall down into the fire, evaporate and eventually condense into smoke.

"Generally, clean diesels are matched up against natural gas, hybrids or electric vehicles," Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum told the publication. "This is the first time we’ve gone head-to-head against fast food."

In order to protect your family from inhaling these toxins, you might want to consider using an air purifier in your home. The IQAIR HealthPro Plus combines advanced filtration technologies to reduce an array of particulate and molecular pollutants. It can help keep the air in your home clean so you can keep enjoying your burgers.

When you were a kid, you probably sang the little melody, "the wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town." It's a lovely tune, but it's safe to say that now the song should go something like, "…round and round, spreading pollution all through the town."

Unfortunately though, this may be the version children might have to start singing. That's because a recent report has found California school buses still in use are polluting the air.According to the Huffington Post, state data shows tens of thousands of California kids ride to school on buses that emit harmful pollutants. So why doesn't the school system update the bus system?

"Back in the '60s and '70s, districts had budgeted school bus replacement programs," John Clements, the director of transportation for Kings Canyon Unified School District, told the news source. "That's not the case under our stiffer fiscal situations. It would be rare to find one."

If your child rides the bus in California, it may be time to consider alternate forms of transportation to school. However, there's something you can do at home, too. A home air purifier can reduce toxins in your home so your children can be exposed to fewer pollutants during the day. While you can't always control what the school system does, you can control the air quality in your home.

If someone were to ask you where the most polluted cities are, where would you guess? Perhaps you would say a city in New Jersey or smog-filled Los Angeles. But it turns out that some cities a person might think has bad air quality actually are where some of the best environmental success stories take place.

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, Los Angeles has played a significant role in air pollution improvement over the last several decades. Due to the position of the Southern California city, between the mountains in the east and the ocean in the west, the publication states that it lends itself to air pollution. However, it was the first state to regulate air pollution in 1967 when then-Governor Ronald Regan signed the Air Resources Act.

The Clean Air Act was signed three years later by President Richard Nixon, allowing the entire country to follow in California's footsteps. Therefore, it's important to understand that the places where you might think are causing environmental problems, like Los Angeles, may actually the ones leading the nation in the right direction.

Whether you live in Los Angeles, the Jersey Shore or any other city in the country, though, you can make sure your home has clean, fresh air at all time. Air purifier IQAir HealthPro Plus uses advance filtration technologies to ensure air pollutants are filtered.

You likely do everything you can to ensure your soon-to-be infant is in a healthy, safe environment at all times. As a pregnant woman, perhaps you've gone to all of the parenting education cases and you've committed to providing him or her with the very best nutrition by maintaining a strict diet. However, if you haven't thought about how air pollution is affecting your little one, there may be more you can do.

According to a new study published in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM), maternal vitamin D deficiency may be linked to urban air pollution.

"We investigated the associations between gestational exposure to urban air pollutants and vitamin D cord blood serum level," said Nour Baïz, lead study author. "Our findings show for the first time, that exposure to ambient air pollution comparable to current World Health Organization standards might contribute to vitamin D deficiency in newborns."

Medical News Today reports that pregnant women who are exposed to high levels of air pollution may be putting their newborns at an increased risk for the development of asthma and allergic diseases.

The researchers found that the link between air pollutions and vitamin deficiency was strongest when women were exposed to pollutants during their third-trimester.  IQAir HealthPro Plus may be great for pregnant women as it uses air filtration technologies in a home to control pollutants.

Most people don't want their homes to smell like fire smoke and they certainly don't want to breathe in the smoke. However, according to The Oregonian, officials in the city of Sisters have recently warned residents that nearby wildfires may affect the local air quality.

The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has been encouraging parents to keep their children indoors and for elderly individuals to stay inside. The department's air quality inspector Frank Messina told the news outlet that the conditions are unhealthy. "If it looks smoky outside, conditions are not good," he suggested. "People should use logic and common sense."

The publication states that the temperature inversion has pushed the smoke to ground level and has created hazardous breathing conditions. This may prove to be especially dangerous to people with respiratory issues such as asthma, as well as other conditions affecting the lungs and heart.

William Knight, a spokesperson for the DEQ, told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) that those who must go outside should avoid manual labor or exercise outdoors.

Residents in the Sisters area, as well as anyone facing area quality issues, can use air filtration technologies in their home to control pollutants. IQAir HealthPro Plus is ideal for those suffering from respiratory ailments as it can capture fine particulate matter.

If you live in the Southern California area, you likely smelled a strange odor in the air this week. Residents woke up to a rotten-egg aroma on Monday, September 10th and complained of the smell throughout the day by calling the local fire departments and even 911. Apparently many locals were concerned the smell was coming from a chemical leak or another alarming incident nearby.

While authorities were unsure about the source of the stench for some time, New York Daily news reports that by Tuesday, Southern California air quality investigators confirmed the smelly fumes were coming from the Salton Sea. Air samples collected throughout the region proved that levels of hydrogen sulfide were high around the lake and grew weaker the further from this location.

"The problem I'm having is the magnitude of the area that was covered by the odor itself. But I guess it can happen under the right conditions, and we had those conditions, apparently, the other night," said Andrew Schlange, general manager at the Salton Sea Authority.

Whatever the source of the stink, California residents shouldn't have to worry about their homes smelling foul. You can keep the scent of the air in your home fresh and pleasant with the use of air purification. The IQAir HealthPro Plus is the top choice for controlling odor, smoke, dust and other pollutants.

It's no secret that some cities have better air quality than others. However, most would probably think that a state known for its mountainous terrain and crisp, clean snow would have no problem at all with air pollution.

But the Denver Post reports that the state does in fact deal with its air pollution concerns. For this reason, federal environmental officials have recently approved Colorado's air quality plan. It was approved by the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The goal of the air quality plan is to reduce emissions by 70,000 tons of pollution per year, reveals the news outlet.

"This plan will significantly reduce emissions and improve visibility, and Colorado will realize significant public health benefits," Dr. Christopher E. Urbina, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said according to the North Colorado Business Journal. "It is a great example of the leadership role Colorado has taken for so long in public health and environmental protection."

Colorado's efforts toward protecting the health of the community and the environment through this plan are something every state should follow. Families can also make a difference in the quality of the air they breathe by using home air purification inside their houses to make sure the air is free of toxins and other potentially harmful substances.