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Toast is more toxic than traffic fumes

The dangers of such indoor pollution emerged from a study by the University of Texas at Austin which built a replica of a typical three-bedroom home equipped with dozens of monitors to assess how air quality changed during everyday activities such as cooking and cleaning.

Date Published: February 17, 2019

Publication: The Sunday Times

Author: Jonathan Leake

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Household Chemicals Pose Health Hazards

Materials in our homes like vinyl flooring and activities as common as cooking dinner can pollute indoor and outside air and cause detrimental health impacts, according to new research shared at a Feb. 17 news briefing at the 2019 AAAS Annual Meeting.

Date Published: February 17, 2019

Publication: AAAS

Author: Andrea Korte

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Cooking Sunday roast causes indoor pollution ‘worse than Delhi’

Fine soot and tiny organic particles from gas flames, vegetables, oils and fat combined to send harmful PM2.5 particulates in the house to levels 13 times higher than those measured in the air in central London. Peak indoor pollution lasted for about an hour.

Date Published: February 17, 2019

Publication: The Guardian

Author: Ian Sample

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Hold your breath: U of T researchers investigate the effects of nitrous acid on indoor air quality

While conversations surrounding air pollution have largely centred on outdoor pollution, indoor air pollution also poses a threat to public health. A study led by Douglas Collins, former postdoctoral fellow in the Abbatt Group in the U of T Department of Chemistry, explored the effects of nitrous acid on indoor air quality.

Date Published: October 28, 2018

Publication: The Varsity

Author: Shruti Misra

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HOMEChem gives chemistry student inside look at air quality

Erin Katz, a fifth-year Drexel University Chemistry program senior, found herself cooking two Thanksgiving dinners in a manufactured home in Texas in June; all for science. Katz was participating in a large and unique field experiment as part of the project HOMEChem, which stands for House Observations of Microbial and Environmental Chemistry. The study marks a landmark undertaking in the relatively new field of indoor air chemistry and related studies.

Date Published: October 5, 2018

Publication: The Triangle

Author: Ann Haftl

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Professor Jon Abbatt: Looking inside the chemistry of our indoor spaces

“It has been known for a long time that the concentrations of outdoor pollutants are correlated to negative health outcomes and as a result outdoor air studies have received a lot of attention in the past,” says Abbatt. “But interestingly, concentrations of most molecules that we breathe are considerably higher indoors than outdoors.”

Date Published: September 11, 2018

Publication: University of Toronto Chemistry News

Author: Dan Haves

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Are You ‘Safely Indoors’?

There is a growing realisation that most air pollutants found inside originate from indoor items or activities. A number of studies have shown concentrations of some molecules in air are frequently two to five times higher indoors than typical outdoor concentrations. Combustion sources – such as gas hobs, wood-burning stoves and candles – are big culprits.

Date Published: August 28, 2018

Publication: Education in Chemistry

Author: Nina Notman, Catherine Smith

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Large scale experiment probes chemistry inside our homes

Funding for indoor research is hard to obtain, in part thanks to the misconception that air pollution is solely an outdoor problem. Only a small number of indoor field measurements have been collected previously, usually looking at a few chemicals with a couple of instruments.

Date Published: July 5, 2018

Publication: Chemistry World (The Royal Society of Chemistry)

Author: Nina Notman

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LIVE from HOMEChem with IAQradio & HealthyIndoors

HI‘s Bob Krell joined Joe Hughes of IAQradio at the open house event from HOMEChem in Austin, TX on June 22nd, to interview some of the research team about this ground-breaking project at the UTest House facility at the University of Texas.

Date Published: July 2, 2018

Publication: Healthy Indoors

Author: Kellan Short

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