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It’s hard to picture anyone more vulnerable than a very young newborn infant.

Infants are one of the highest risk categories of people exposed to different kinds of air pollutants and contaminants. New research is showing just what kind of affects this can have on a newborn. That includes infants who are delivered around an expected due date, as well as premature deliveries, where infants are even more vulnerable due to less development at the time of birth.

A spate of articles came out early this spring about a project undertaken by researchers where they studied thousands of labor and delivery cases, to find rates of NICU admittance affected by air pollutants like nitrogen oxide and ultra fine particles.

Methodology and Findings

Scientist analyzed a range of subjects and grouped them by regions of the country. They found, in general, that infants in rural regions were more likely to suffer from the effects of air pollution.

In general, what they found was a 30% to 35% increase in NICU admissions for infants where the mother was exposed to nitrogen oxide in late pregnancy, as well as an 11% to 22% increase in NICU visits for cases where the mother was exposed to PM 2.5.

What are these pollutants?

Nitrogen oxide is a byproduct of vehicle exhaust. 

PM 2.5 is a bit different. It’s a byproduct of combustion, including wood or coal combustion. That means PM 2.5 can come from industrial activities, or even natural wildfires.

We’ve written a lot about PM 2.5 as wildfires are becoming increasingly common around the country. The term refers to ultrafine particles with a diameter around 2.5 µm on the nanoscale. They can’t be seen, and can’t always be smelled or otherwise detected.

Other Neonatal Outcomes

To contrast these kinds of problems, let’s look at how something as simple as humidity has an impact on NICU cases.

This paper tracks the humidity in NICU facilities across various neonatal cases, and determines that it’s important to have proper humidity to help reduce the rates of infections and respiratory conditions.

So you can imagine that air quality is extremely important in these neonatal departments, too.

It’s all about controlling the environment, to give these young babies a better chance of survival and quality of life.

But now we know that an expecting mother should also avoid some of these chemicals and particles as they prepare for labor and delivery.

It’s not just pregnant women, either. Elderly people are another class of people who have high risk for problems related to a variety of air pollutants.

Where Do Air Pollutants Come From?

As mentioned, chemical compounds like nitrogen oxide come from vehicle exhaust. Carbon dioxide is another product of this type of combustion that also comes from various sources.

Then there’s PM 2.5 and fine particles of that type.

But other pollutants come from consumer products and building materials. We call these volatile organic compounds or VOCs. They include items like benzene, formaldehyde, and something called trichloroethylene or TCE.

These chemicals can off-gas from items that you bring into your home. They can be in treated lumber or other kinds of building materials like laminate flooring.

In addition, there are natural pollutants like mold and mildew.

Many of these contaminants can be present in hospitals, too. Or they can be in spaces where a newborn is traveling, 

Portable Air Purifiers

Wherever you need defense from air pollution, some of these portable air purifiers can help. 

Take a look at the Amaircare Roomaid, an ozone-free unit rated for 300 square feet. With a five-year warranty and HEPA filtration, this model provides good protection from some of the worst contaminants. 

Or there’s this Airfree model with its own look and feel, and a proprietary capsule system for battling air pollutants. 

Also, there’s a Respiray wearable that revolutionizes portable protection. 

US Air Purifiers LLC can help you to choose the best design, with background information on air quality and remediating pollutants. You want to have the right cycling power, and the right features, to fit your needs, and we have a track record of assisting in recommending the best purchases. Get confident about your indoor air quality! 

We know that air pollution is a big problem. We’ve seen the World Health Organization and other institutions come out with news that more than half of the world‘s population battles poor air quality in their communities on a regular basis.

As for the specific harm that air pollution produces, scientists are still studying how this works.

There’s a general consensus that many types of air pollution cause real respiratory issues that can trigger allergies or asthma. They can worsen conditions like COPD. They can add to pneumonia or lung irritation.

Effects on the Brain

The science on how air pollution affects the brain is a little different. People are paying a lot of attention. New studies show us these things. They're aimed at figuring out whether dementia and cognitive decline are tied to air quality that someone is exposed to over their lifetime.

Check out this abstract from a recent formal study:

“The biological pathways and the extent to which air pollution can affect the cognitive decline in the elderly (is not fully understood). In recent years, the impact of air pollution on cognitive impairment has become an active area of epidemiological research and several studies provided supporting evidence. This short review focuses on epidemiological studies in older adults. It investigates the associations between long-term air pollution exposure and cognitive impairment and decline. Most studies were observational studies and reported assessment of cognitive function using different cognitive scores and air pollution exposure in adults older than 50 years. The results from these studies indicate that exposure to ambient air pollution can have adverse effects on cognitive decline and impairment …(we need) longer-term studies to confirm the findings.”

In the main text, the authors clarify:

“Studies on air pollution exposure with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases suggest a harmful impact on the brain and cognitive processes through vascular and inflammatory mechanisms,” they write. “However, the extent to which air pollution can affect cognitive decline and dementia in the elderly is not fully understood.”

So how do we figure out whether this link exists? One way is with hands-on testing that can reveal whether the cause and effect is there, or not.

Testing the Theory

An article at Health and Me talks about a specific trial to figure out how air pollution affects cognitive function. We see this in the Journals of Gerontology, and as the author writes, “indicates that breathing polluted air might be bad for the brains of older adults.”

How?

“The study suggests that being exposed to pollution could make seniors more likely to develop problems with their thinking and memory, possibly even increasing their chances of getting dementia,” writes the anonymous author of the piece, hosted at MSN.

For this study, researchers reportedly looked at a group of over 1000 elderly persons over the age of 65. The British trial subjects took a test measuring brain functions.

The people who lived in the most polluted areas scored in the lower third of test results. As the article posits:

“This suggests that the parts of the brain responsible for understanding and using language might be particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects of air pollution.”

That’s with the understanding that correlation is not necessarily causation, and there are other factors in play. 

Two Main Types of Relevant Air Pollution

Reporting on the study specifically notes that scientists found nitrogen dioxide and PM 2.5 to be the two worst types of pollution for impacting cognitive decline in the elderly.

The writer also revealed where these two kinds of air pollution come from.

Nitrogen dioxide comes from vehicle exhaust and other similar kinds of fossil fuel production. That includes the output of power plants. When asked “where does nitrogen dioxide come from?” formal definitions add the following: “Industrial facilities like factories, refineries, and cement kilns and construction equipment and generators – anything that uses internal combustion.”

PM 2.5 is different. It can come from natural carbon combustion from burning coal, or even wood. So you might say it's "natural." But that doesn't mean it can't be harmful.

That means that wildfires, as well as your campfires and fireplace fires, will release these ultrafine particles. PM 2.5 can get into your lungs and cause various health conditions.

Essentially, even burning wood is a form of air pollution that we have to watch out for.

A recent piece from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences provides this sidebar on new research into wood burning and wildfires in particular:

“High temperatures and droughts regularly create conditions that promote wildfires. As these infernos become larger and more frequent, concerns have mounted about the adverse effects of smoke on public health. NIEHS-funded researchers are studying the chronic and acute health conditions that result from short- and long-term wildfire smoke exposure. One recent study suggests that PM2.5 from wildfires poses a greater risk for dementia than equivalent-sized particles from other sources. This risk is particularly pronounced among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.”

Dealing with PM 2.5

Specifically, PM 2.5 indicates small particles with diameters around 2.5 microns, and these are hard to avoid if they are heavily present in the air. You certainly can’t see them, and it’s hard to know if you’re getting exposed. You might feel symptoms, including a scratchy throat, burning or itching , red eyes, sneezing or coughing, or general respiratory problems.

This is from Harvard Medicine:

“Most air pollution-induced sickness and mortality can be traced to particulates. No larger than 10 microns, or the size of a dust mote, these solid particles and liquid droplets slip through the body’s initial filters and clog its airways. Exposure to them can cause asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. Particulates under 2.5 microns, or PM 2.5, such as flecks of soot, can permeate the bloodstream, leading to stroke, heart attack, and changes in blood pressure and cholesterol levels.”

What We Can Do For Seniors

If you’re thinking about how to combat air pollution on behalf of the elderly, there are some actionable steps that you can take to support elderly people as they age.

First, we can take a look at the air quality in communities by being vigilant about the pollution that occurs. Where is it coming from? How can it be mitigated? What is the effect?

We can also look at instances of wood fire burning, and where that smoke goes. If it’s a small fire and the smoke disperses safely, that’s less of an issue then if someone burns a fire in a fireplace or a poorly sealed wood stove, and all of that PM2.5 is getting circulated in the indoor air.

So looking at small “point of use” fires is important, too. That’s true whether the fire is in an open pit, a mantle fireplace in the living room, a chimney or fire pit, or anything else, or whether a neighbor is burning wood or leaves or trash, etc.

Another important point is that this type of impact tends to build up during a person’s lifetime. So one small fire might not be an issue, but repeated combustion and smoke trapping is going to become more of a hazard over time.

Protecting Your Home

What can you do if these sorts of pollutants are present in your indoor air?

Because our homes are so well sealed, if they have new windows, that air tends to keep cycling and can really impact someone’s health.

That means it’s important to keep our indoor air as clean as possible. That’s not just true for limiting PM 2.5 or even trace amounts of nitrogen dioxide if they’re present. It also extends to various kinds of chemicals found in consumer items, and even natural items like mold that can be hazardous.

The first step is to use an air monitor to see what’s present in your indoor air.

Then you can utilize air purifier units with modern, effective technologies, like HEPA filters, activated carbon, heat treatment, probiotics, or other methods that will help cleanse the air and remove a wide range of pollutants.

Many people can benefit from this kind of health protection. Some of the most at-risk groups are children, pregnant women, and those with disabilities. But elderly people will also benefit, to the extent that if air pollution is worsening their cognitive decline, decreasing it will help.

Let US Air Purifiers LLC help you to figure out what’s best for your space, and your family, with specific metrics on air changes per hour and efficacy indoors. Check with us for the breakdown on different kinds of pollutants, how they work, and what’s most effective, as well as manufacturer ratings and other key information that you will want as you shop. Get confident about the air around you!

Near the beginning of last year, the national Environmental Protection Agency reached the end of a process by which the agency could set a new standard for certain types of air pollution.

Scientists estimate the stronger standard will prevent 4500 deaths. They also believe it will result in 290,000 fewer lost days of work, 800,000 cases of asthma, and 2000 fewer emergency department visits.

Official Input on the Rule

“The Consortium welcomes these strengthened standards … to reduce air pollution and safeguard our health,” write spokespersons at the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. “Soot is a dangerous and deadly pollutant produced by industrial manufacturing, car exhaust, and power plant emissions. Mostly from the burning of fossil fuels. It threatens our health and environment — affecting approximately 63 million Americans and posing particular risks to infants, children, pregnant individuals, seniors, communities of color, and people with chronic illness.”

 “The new, stronger particle pollution standards will save lives,” says Paul Billings, Senior Vice President for Public Policy, American Lung Association. “Despite what polluting industries are saying about the new air pollution standards, the sky will not fall and the world will not come to end. Don’t believe the cherry-picked data, misleading maps and false claims of economic calamity: they’re just not true.”

Comparing the Numbers

The new rule limits the accumulation of covered substances in the air to under 9 micrograms per cubic meter or 9 µg per m³.

One way to get a grasp on what 9 µg per m³ represents is to look at how other substances typically collect in the air.

For reference, the World Health Organization recommendation is under 5 µg per m³. The EPA threshold is almost twice that.

If we look at the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the air, general estimates suggest that it’s on the order of around 750,000 µg per m³.

So that’s thousands of times more than what the EPA is allowing for these types of small particle pollution.

Or let’s look at nitrogen dioxide. That's a common greenhouse gas emission from sources including burning gasoline. It's in vehicle exhaust. And it's harsh stuff.

Typical levels of NO2 in outdoor air range from 10 to 50 µg per m³, with higher concentrations in urban areas.

Whereas clean rural air could have something like 5 µg per m³, busy urban areas might have 40 to 100. That's quite a bit more.

As for ozone, the WHO sets an eight hour guideline of 100 µg per cubic meter. Scientists estimate typical ambient levels at between 50 to 120. They note that in some cities, spikes on hot sunny days can hit something like 200.

All that said, it appears that the standard for certain types of particles like fine soot under the EPA is pretty stringent.

It’s all part of protecting communities from the health effects of air pollution. That's a big job.

Agencies like the World Health Organization and others suggest that the majority of people around the world are breathing unsafe levels of pollutants.

They show how that has to do with things like development and carbon emissions.

So now we’re trying to work on the science of clean air. That helps to improve the quality of the air that we breathe on a day-to-day basis.

Your Home’s Indoor Air

Now that we’ve talked about some of the most common pollutants outside, let’s talk about indoor air. What is the air like in your home or workplace? Is it clean?

Some of these small particles from wildfires, industrial pollution, or vehicles can make their way indoors. They can float around in your indoor air.

In addition, you can have a range of contaminants called volatile organic compounds. This includes items like formaldehyde, benzene, and something called TCE.

You can also have natural pollutants like mold spores, dust mite particles, and pet dander.

The key is to know what’s floating in your indoor area using an air monitor. Then you can purchase an air purifier that can cycle through the air and remove a lot of these particles.

A Modern HEPA Filter

A medical grade HEPA will cover 99.97% of particles down to .3 microns. A super HEPA barrier will remove 99.99% down to .1 microns.

There’s also activated carbon. Or heat treatment. Or other methods.

Turn to US Air Purifiers LLC for all of your design questions, and for advice about getting the right air purifier for your needs.

It’s important to research this purchase and get the best machine. Boost your confidence in the air that you breathe and the quality of life in your home.

As we learn to work with new technology, we have to look at the environmental impact and how it affects us in our communities.

This is often an issue when some new digital advancement comes along. One of the most prominent examples is cryptocurrency, where bitcoin mining and other similar blockchain practices use a lot of energy. Specifically, as of 2022, scientists estimated that the practice of mining Bitcoin uses up to 127 terawatt-hours annually, which was roughly equal to the total energy consumption of Norway at the time. To put this in perspective, the average American home uses an estimated 861 kilowatt-hours per month!

It turns out there’s also a significant footprint for ChatGPT and other similar models that we use for search, creativity, professional development, etc.

Just like most pollution, you don’t see the effect right around you. Instead, it builds up. In the case of ChatGPT, the change happens at remote data centers far away from where you’re typing in your parts of the interaction with the neural net.

So what is the actual impact?

Models and Carbon Dioxide Emissions

In terms of carbon dioxide, scientists estimate that ChatGPT emits about 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

However, when you compare that to one person’s output, it’s about double. So you can imagine that in a total year, ChatGPT only emits as much carbon dioxide as one roving couple of aging nomads in a Volkswagen van.

Or, pick your metaphor.

The point is that taking in the big picture, this isn’t really a lot of carbon dioxide emissions.

Water Use for ChatGPT

The issue becomes a bit more urgent when you consider water use.

Those data centers need a lot of water to operate. Operators need to cool rack after rack of hard-working hardware, that is generating a lot of heat, while consuming those corresponding massive amounts of power. 

Here’s where ChatGPT’s footprint is sizable.

Experts estimate that for every 20 to 50 queries you ask ChatGPT, it uses the equivalent of a single bottle of water, around 500 cL.

That means the total water usage is sizable.

You also have to take into account how the energy to power data centers is generated. If it’s generated far from the data center itself, energy is lost in transmission. If it’s from coal burning, that has its own footprint.

This resource from Maricopa Community College makes the distinction between renewable and non-renewable energy sources, showing how they have differing impacts on the environment.

“Renewable energy sources can be replenished within human lifespans. Examples include solar, wind, and biomass energy. Non-renewable energy is finite and cannot be replenished within a human timescale.”

At the same time, many of these renewables also have zero emissions. That is not true, though, of wood, where natural wood combustion creates quite a bit of contamination.

The Air Around You

On a very general level, we have to be cognizant of air pollution, because it can affect our health.

In addition to carbon dioxide, you have factory fumes, particles from wood smoke, and emissions from vehicles, each of which carries its own burdens of PM 2.5, NO2, and other pollutants.

On the blog, you can find a lot of updates about how governments and communities are handling air pollution. You can read about where it’s coming from, for instance, wildfires and their responses all over the globe.

But you can also start trying for cleaner air at home with an air purifier appliance that will scrub out a lot of these pollutants, as well as many others.

As we’ve pointed out, you’re dealing with a range of air pollutants. Some of them are synthetic chemicals, and others more natural. Air purifiers can work on things like mold, dust mites, and pet dander or pet odor. They can also work on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like formaldehyde and benzene, and they can work on PM 2.5 from wood or coal combustion, or vehicle exhaust.

One good way to start is using an air monitor to see what’s lurking in your indoor air.

Then you can use a whole home or floor-standing air purifier to remediate the issue and get clean, livable, breathable air.

Sometimes it’s the little things – details that you would never think about can have an impact on your health.

Everybody views this a different way. Some people would rather not know about these little issues –but to other people, knowledge is power, and they want to understand the science of what happens around them.

If you're in that second set of people, though, you can look at interesting new research about no-flame scented candles and other aromatherapy products.

Aroma and Health

On the one hand, aromatherapy can be great for stress and mental health.

It can help you sleep better, reduce your tension and lighten your mood.

But if the materials have caustic chemicals and pollutants, there’s a negative effect, too.

Flame-Free Candles and Scented Items: Studies

In some studies, scientists are finding that some of the items that seem safe might actually be a little more harmful than how they are presented.

For example, check out this article where scientists at Purdue University are subjecting no-flame scented candles and similar objects to trial tests. They're finding that they’re releasing higher levels of things like benzene and terpenes than anyone would have suspected. That's troubling.

This opens up the issue to a debate about how harmful some of these products are.

Thinking About Scenarios

Think about this basic question. Can you cancel out the pollution from a scented candle (flameless or otherwise) with an air purifier in the same room?

Imagine you’re the spouse of someone who goes to Bed, Bath and Beyond routinely and burns scented candles in the bedroom (more on this later). You might also have an air purifier machine going. You want to cleanse the air. How much will that air purifier cancel out the effect of the candle?

Science for the Win

Now, if you are interested in this conundrum, you can check out this Reddit thread. Here, a very scientifically minded poster goes through a lot of the physics involved, breaking down what happens.

That’s going to show the reader what’s going on in the room down to a very granular level, depending on where those items are placed, and when they are burned.

“You light a candle on one side of the room, and you put the air purifier on the other,” writes one poster in a theoretical proposition. “The candle gives off its vapors, so you can smell it. The air purifier filters out the vapors. The vapors could not be removed from the air until crossing the entire room and going into the air purifier. So as long as the candle is lit, there will be vapors between the candle and air purifier. It would reduce the total accumulation of vapors but not totally remove all of them.”

More on the Science

Another poster weighs in.

“There will be more vapors near the candle and less near the air purifier, so you can smell the candle stronger the closer you are to it,” they write. “If you stand next to the air purifier, you might barely be able to smell it. If you start walking towards the candle you'll be able to smell it more and more. This is called a gradient. According to Fick's law, the vapors will move from the candle to the air purifier by Diffusion, which is just a fancy word for spreading out. If you stand still, the smell stays the same because the candle and air purifier are producing and removing the vapors at the same rate.”

Here's more on something called “forced convection.”

“This works even if the air purifier is right next to the candle. It (won't totally eliminate) the vapors (which) get sucked into the air purifier. This is called forced convection. That just means pushing the air. The vapors also rise along with the air near the candle. That's because it's hotter than the rest of the air in the room. This is called natural convection. Some of the vapors will escape the air purifier's ‘sphere of influence’ by natural convection, and fill the room by diffusion.”

You can read the rest on the site as posters continue to game this out. It’s important to note something, though,. Given a theoretical where the air purifier is working fast enough, and adsorbing particles at a particular rate, it will be removing much of the vapor product from the candle. 

Checking Your Air

Now, if you can’t get lab analysis of these aroma products, one thing you can do is actually check the indoor air in your home.

You won’t just find whether scented candles are releasing toxins. You’ll find natural items like:

• Dust mites
• Mold
• Pet dander

As well as chemical elements like:

When you’ve done this analysis, you can figure out how to use an air purifier to get cleaner, more breathable air in your home. The AurPura C700DLX is a good model for this kind of use - you can also look for other similar models with a HEPA filter and carbon that will effectively work against the desired range of contaminants. 

Get the best technology, and let US Air Purifiers LLC help you with all of your design questions.

We have a great track record of assisting customers getting the best air purifiers for their needs.

Be sure to check out space ratings, and everything else, to make sure you have the right amount of power for your indoor space, and be confident about the air you breathe on a regular basis.