Most of us are blissfully unaware of the toxins which circulate in our homes.

We buy building products believing that they are safe. The Grenfell Tower tragedy has shown how residents inhaled ‘poisonous gases’ – one being cyanide, a known carcinogenic – which was released from the burning insulation. This type of insulation is still commonly used in the UK.

Plastic pollution and external air quality are now mainstream news – indoor air quality less so. We spend 90% of our lives indoors inhaling an air concentration around 10 times higher than the air outside. Paints, glues, pressed wood products such as MDF, sealants, grouts and fillers all contain toxic chemicals – some carcinogenic, some hormone and endocrine disrupting, others simply poisonous, in varying quantities.

We are building air-tight homes with stringent energy requirements and using materials in them which contain toxic chemicals. These leak or ‘outgas’ into our interiors and are inhaled as fumes or in micro-particles. Academics and environmentalists working in this field are concerned about this cocktail of gasses. Health complaints such as asthma, respiratory problems, hormone and endocrine disorders and more serious conditions are increasingly believed to be connected to or associated with indoor air quality. 

Children, whose organs are growing and pregnant Mums are particularly vulnerable. The World Health Organisation reported in 2012 that household air pollution is ‘an extremely important risk factor accounting for 4.3 million deaths worldwide’ in that year. 

Google and Harvard University – giants of industry and academia – are working together as the Centre for Climate Health and the Global Environment conducting cutting edge research to create healthy cities and homes for the future and to reduce indoor pollutants. The shift towards promoting healthy building – reducing toxic chemicals and plastics in the building process – sits with the drive to reduce plastic worldwide and is a vital part of ensuring the future health of our planet.

Howhealthyisyourhome.com is a go-between current research and the consumer. It shares positive and easy to understand information on how to create more healthy environments in our homes. YOU JOIN THE CAMPAIGN every time you ask for a toxin free product in your builders merchant :)

Cyanide was just one of the poisonous gases released from insulation material during the fire at Grenfell Tower.

Air pollution in our homes is around 10 times higher than outside.

Professional decorators are 40% more likely to contract lung cancer.

Source: World Health Organisation (WHO)

Household air pollution was considered an extremely important risk factor accounting for 4.3 million deaths worldwide in 2012.

Source: World Health Organisation (WHO)