Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Fracking Harmful


You may have heard about water pollution from fracking (the production of natural gas from hydraulic fracturing), but air pollution is also on the rise from this process.
     "So much is being said in news about how this is the new clean fuel," she said. "It's not."
     Natural gas production is rapidly increasing across the country -- from Pennsylvania to Colorado. According to many public health experts, the natural and manmade chemicals released during drilling, hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) and reinjection steps are making more and more people sick. Adding to the concern are new findings showing the associated air pollution, and the dangers of exposure to very small doses of certain chemicals. Developing fetuses and young children can be the most vulnerable to these effects.
     "For children, the potential cancer risk is a serious consideration. They are more sensitive, exposed at younger ages and for longer periods of time," said Lisa McKenzie, lead researcher on the study at the Colorado School of Public Health.
     McKenzie said the results also pointed to potentially significant respiratory and neurological effects. For children, this could mean more headaches, sore throats and asthma. "Children are more sensitive to all of these pollutants, whether traditional ozone, dust or particulates caused by hydrocarbons leaking out of the wells or the diesel trucks carrying the materials," added Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, whose goal is to protect public health and the environment.
Source: Huffington Post

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Smog and Stokes

Factors for stroke include: predisposition for weak blood vessels, smoking, and poor air quality. Combine any of these and you have a deadly combination.

For more on how smog increases the risk of stroke, click here to see the Video.

Symptoms of stroke:
  • Numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg — especially on one side of the body
  • Confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
  • Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
  • Trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, poor coordination
  • Severe headache with no known cause
If you notice anyone with sudden onset of those symptoms, they should seek immediate medical attention.

The National Stroke Association recommends you do the following to reduce your risk:
  • Eat a healthful diet
  • Don’t smoke
  • Be active and exercise
  • Limit alcohol use
  • Maintain a healthy weight
  • Manage high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol

Also, purify your air. The fine particles in the air are what increase the risk of stroke. Our purifiers increase the ozone, so the particles stick together, becoming larger.

Source: Press Enterprise

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

UV History



According to Good Changes Now, the history of ultraviolet light is as follows:

In 1800, a German astronomer, Fredrich William Herschel, was experimenting with passing sunlight through a glass prism. He observed that temperatures increased the more he went towards the red end of the spectrum. As a scientist he measured beyond the red end of the spectrum, naming it “ultra-red.”
A year later, Johann Wilhelm Ritter, Polish-born physicist, hearing of Herschel’s ultra-red discovery, wanted to know if light existed beyond it. At the University of Jena, Ritter did experiments using silver chloride. This light-sensitive material was used in passing different colors through a glass prism. He found an intense reaction with the silver chloride, and beyond the red end of the spectrum he found the violet light that he termed “chemical rays.” Later this light was referred to as “ultraviolet” light.
In 1877 two English scientists, W. B. Hugo Downes and Thomas Porter Blunt, discovered that sunlight kills bacteria. While doing an experiment with sugar water the part in the sun remained clear while the shaded side grew cloudy with bacteria.
Much later Marshall Ward discovered it was the ultraviolet portion that had the bacteria-killing properties.
Niels Finsen was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1903, for his work using UV light to fight tuberculosis.
The UV-C light sterilization has the ability to kill viruses, germs, and bacteria. The lights are now at a stage that we have sizes that we can use anywhere.

Further, Public Health Reports describes how we are using UV light for germicidal purposes:

Public health concerns such as multi- and extensive drug-resistant tuberculosis, bioterrorism, pandemic influenza, and severe acute respiratory syndrome have intensified efforts to prevent transmission of infections that are completely or partially airborne using environmental controls. One such control, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI), has received renewed interest after decades of underutilization and neglect. With renewed interest, however, come renewed questions, especially regarding efficacy and safety. There is a long history of investigations concluding that, if used properly, UVGI can be safe and highly effective in disinfecting the air, thereby preventing transmission of a variety of airborne infections. Despite this long history, many infection control professionals are not familiar with the history of UVGI and how it has, and has not, been used safely and effectively. This article reviews that history of UVGI for air disinfection, starting with its biological basis, moving to its application in the real world, and ending with its current status.