|
Houseplant to clean the air?
Want a great, green way to clean the air in your house?
A new study by a
California teenager suggests that a not-so-usual suspect
- the English ivy plant - might be just the ticket.
Ryan Kim, the son of an
allergy researcher, found that an English ivy plant does
a significant job of cleansing the air of mold
particles and other nasty particulates, including canine
fecal matter.
Possibly better than
electronic purifiers
"This may be a better alternative, and more
cost-effective" than an electronic air purifier, said
study co-author Hilary Spyers-Duran, a nurse
practitioner and investigator at West Coast Clinical
Trials in Long Beach, California.
But an indoor-pollution
specialist is skeptical of the plant-as-air-cleaner
approach. He suggested that concerned residents try an
old-fashioned method: ridding the house beforehand of
contaminants that make the air dirty.
Some houseplants,
including English ivy, have been touted for their
air-cleaning properties. But it hasn't been entirely
clear how effectively they work, said Spyers-Duran, who
wrote the paper with Kim, the son of her company's CEO,
Dr Kenneth Kim.
How the study was
conducted
The younger Kim put moldy bread and dog feces in
individual containers and measured how many particles
spread into the air. Then he put an English ivy plant
into the containers to see what happened, and then
repeated the experiment.
The study findings were released this week at the annual
meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology in Anaheim, California.
According to the study, the plant reduced airborne
particles of fecal matter by an average of more than 94
percent over 12 hours. The level of mold in the air
went down by 78.5 percent.
How does a plant manage to clean the air? "Aerosolized
particles are actually absorbed through the roots and
soil of the plant," Spyers-Duran explained.
So should health-conscious people rush out and buy an
English ivy plant? There are a few caveats, experts
said. For one thing, English ivy is toxic and shouldn't
be placed near small children or pets. Also, the study
only examined what the plant does in containers, not in
entire rooms.
Then there's the matter of allowing dirt into your home.
The soil that feeds a plant also sends out its own
potentially dangerous microbes and waste products, noted
Jeffrey Siegel, an assistant professor of civil
engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.
Remove sources of pollution
Siegel, who specializes in indoor air quality,
recommends that residents combat indoor pollution by
getting rid of sources within the home. This includes
making people smoke outside and providing exhaust hoods
to get rid of cooking-related pollutants.
If that doesn't work, he said, air purifiers with HEPA
filters are a good approach. He doesn't recommend the
use of ionizing air purifiers, which some researchers
suspect actually boost levels of the pollutant ozone. –
(HealthDayNews)
Download abstract |
