Posted on: Friday, April 2, 2004

Cleaning could harm your lungs, study finds

By Jane E. Allen
Los Angeles Times

Simply walking around in your home and then plopping into a chair kicks up more lung-irritating dust than other everyday activities — and releases half as many air-polluting particles as smoking a cigarette.

Such particles can aggravate asthma and allergies, so people prone to respiratory problems are advised to be careful while dusting and vacuuming. But researchers have found that ordinary household movement can rival cleaning in generating indoor air pollution. For instance, walking on a rug can churn up almost as much as vacuuming.

The measurements come from a newly released study in which Andrea R. Ferro, now an assistant engineering professor at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., set out to quantify the amount of air pollution created by housecleaning and other activity that stirs up dust that has settled on floors, furniture and other surfaces.

As a doctoral student at Stanford University, she and her colleagues placed particle detectors in the house of a colleague who had wooden floors, thin area rugs and no cloth-upholstered furnishings except beds and pillows. Over five days, Ferro and a colleague went about daily chores and engaged in a little recreation (kicking up their heels on the rug).

Most of the particles detected were bigger than 5 microns, which are considered a lesser health threat than smaller particles. But the researchers detected a substantial amount less than 5 microns, fine enough to lodge deep in the lungs, where they can decrease lung function and exacerbate asthma.