The home we live in is one of the major influences on our health and wellness. People spend half of every day, sometimes more, inside their homes. Tracking exposures and health problems in the home can help people understand how often they and their families experience unhealthy living conditions. These data will also help doctors, researchers, and public health officials understand how our homes can be improved to help us stay healthy. Lead in the home, environmental tobacco smoke, radon, and carbon monoxide are all possible harmful exposures in the home. Lead can be detrimental to the mental development of children. Radon exposure is one of the largest risk factors for developing lung cancer, second only to smoking. Smoking or secondhand smoke may also have a synergistic effect with radon amplifying risk of lung cancer. Carbon monoxide poisoning can quickly become deadly with little warning. In addition to these exposures, poor housing conditions like the presence of damp or dusty areas or pests can contribute to the development of respiratory conditions like asthma.
In 2007, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) conducted the American Housing Survey, which showed that six million households live with moderate or severe physical housing problems. Anyone can suffer from housing related injury and illness; although certain groups such as children, the elderly, or individuals with chronic illness are more vulnerable.
Children, who typically spend the majority of their time indoors, are more at risk to the effects of biological, chemical, and physical exposures. It is important to make every effort to minimize the possible dangers in and around your home. These possible dangers include allergens, asbestos, combustion products (e.g., furnace, water heater, and generator), pests (e.g., cockroaches, bed bugs, mice, etc.), lead based paint, mold, household/automotive cleaners, pesticides/herbicides, radon, and injury hazards. Children are more susceptible to health effects from environmental hazards, especially very young children from pre-birth through the toddler stage.
You can help make your home a healthier place to live, for you and your family by following The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - Eight Healthy Homes Principles.
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Healthy Homes Principles
You can help make your home a healthier place to live, for you and your family by following The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - Eight Healthy Home Principles
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Keep it Dry
Damp houses provide a nurturing environment for mites, roaches, rodents, and molds, all of which are associated with asthma.
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Keep it Clean
Clean homes help reduce pest infestations and exposure to contaminants.
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Keep it Safe
The majority of injuries among children occur in the home. Falls are the most frequent cause of residential injuries to children, followed by injuries from objects in the home, burns, and poisonings.
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Keep it Ventilated
Studies show that increasing the fresh air supply in a home improves respiratory health.
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Keep it Pest-Free
Recent studies show a causal relationship between exposure to mice and cockroaches and asthma episodes in children; yet inappropriate treatment for pest infestations can exacerbate health problems since pesticide residues in homes pose risks for neurological damage and cancer.
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Keep it Contaminant-Free
Chemical exposures include lead, radon, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, and environmental tobacco smoke. Exposures to asbestos particles, radon gas, carbon monoxide, and second-hand tobacco smoke are far higher indoors than outside.
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Keep it Maintained
Poorly-maintained homes are at risk for moisture and pest problems. Deteriorated lead-based paint in older housing is the primary cause of lead poisoning, which affects some 240,000 U.S. children.
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Keep it Thermally Controlled
Houses that do not maintain adequate temperature may increase the residents' risk from exposure to extreme cold or heat.
Lead
Why is this important?
Lead can affect almost every system in the human body and is especially detrimental to the neurological development of unborn babies and children. Exposure to lead early in life can result in:
- Behavior and learning problems
- Lower IQ and hyperactivity
- Delayed growth
- Hearing problems
- Anemia
- Reduced growth of the fetus
- Premature birth
No safe blood lead level has been identified for children.
What is known?
Lead is a naturally-occurring element in the earths crust and can be found in high concentrations in some areas. Other areas have been contaminated by human activity. Lead was used as an additive in gasoline to reduce engine knock until phasing out leaded gasoline began in the 1970s. Lead-based paint was also commonly used for housing until being banned in 1978. Despite discontinued use of lead-based paint and leaded gasoline, lead can now be found in the soil in many places and millions of houses still have lead paint.
Lead from paint in older houses can become dangerous when the houses begin to deteriorate. Surfaces like window frames that are frequently in motion begin to wear and chip, resulting in dust containing lead particles and free paint chips. This dust can contaminate the soil around the house or carpet and floor within the home. Home renovation activities like sanding and scraping painted surfaces can disturb the paint layer and contribute to lead contamination in and around the home. Lead can also be found in some plumbing. The lead in these pipes can sometimes leach into drinking water.
Who is at risk?
- Children living in pre-1978 housing
- Young children spend much of their time crawling and playing on the ground. They also tend to put objects in their mouths frequently. Because of this, they are at high risk for ingesting lead particles in contaminated dust in the home at a time when lead poisoning is most detrimental.
- Pregnant women.
- Lead accumulates in our bones over our lifetimes and is released during periods of calcium stress like pregnancy and lactation.
- Some occupations are at increased risk for lead poisoning
- Auto workers
- Battery manufacturers
- Construction workers
- plumbers and pipe fitters
- police officers and firing range instructors
- lead miners, refiners, smelters
How to reduce risk?
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Have paint and dust from your home tested
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Make sure children don't have access to peeling paint or chewable surfaces
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Create barriers between lead sources and areas where children live and play
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Wash hand and toys regularly
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Wet-mop floors and wet-wipe window components regularly
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Prevent children from playing in bare soil
Carbon Monoxide
Why is this important?
Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is one of the leading causes of unintentional poisoning deaths in the United States. CO is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced whenever fuel or other organic materials are burned. Every year, exposure to Carbon Monoxide fumes results in more than 20,000 emergency room visits, 4,000 hospitalizations and more than 400 deaths in the United States. The easiest and best way to reduce the risk of Carbon Monoxide poisoning is to install and properly maintain a battery operated CO detector in your home.
What is known?
CO is found in fumes produced any time you burn fuel in cars or trucks, small engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges, or furnaces. CO can build up indoors and poison people and animals who breathe it. The symptoms of CO poisoning are described as being similar to the flu. Breathing CO in large amounts can lead to a loss of consciousness or death. People who are asleep, or under the influence of alcohol can die from CO poisoning before they have symptoms.
Who is at risk?
Everyone is at risk for CO poisoning. The risk for CO poisoning increases during power outages, where people sometimes do things to restore power and stay warm that will make CO poisoning more likely, like using a gas range or grill to heat their home or installing emergency generators close to the home where CO can get inside and cause people to get sick. For more information, see the How to Reduce Risk section below.
How to reduce risk?
- Install a battery operated CO detector in your home - check and replace batteries twice a year
- Have any gas, oil, or coal burning appliances serviced by a technician each year
- Do not use portable flameless chemical heaters indoors
- Make sure gas appliances are heated properly
- Get your chimney checked or cleaned every year
- Never patch a vent pipe with tape or gum
- Never use a gas range for heating
- Never patch a vent pipe with tape or gum
- Never burn charcoal inside
- Never use a portable camp stove indoors
- Never use a generator inside your home
For information on how to prevent CO poisoning during power outages, please visit the CDC CO Poisoning Prevention website.
Radon
Why is this important?
Exposure to radon is the second leading risk factor for lung cancer after smoking. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, radon exposure is responsible for more than 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year.
What is known?
Radon is an invisible, tasteless, and odorless gas that forms naturally when radioactive metals like uranium, thorium, or radium break down in rocks, soil, and groundwater. Radon enters a home from the ground through cracks in the floor, basement walls, or gaps in suspended floors. If groundwater is the home's primary source of drinking water, like a well, radon can be present. Exposure to radioactive radon particles over a long period of time increases a person's risk of lung cancer. The risk of lung cancer from exposure to radon particles is especially high for people who smoke.
Who is at risk?
- People who live in homes with radon concentrations above the EPA reference level of 4 picocuries per liter
- People who smoke and people who live with others who smoke in the home
How to reduce risk?
- Test your home or office for radon
- Install a radon mitigation system if levels are found to be high
For information on how to prevent radon exposure, please visit the EPA's Health Risk of Radon page.