How’s Your Air?

HOW’S YOUR AIR?

The average American spends more than 90% of their time indoors breathing air that is potentially bad for their health. Many of these indoor pollutants are odorless, colorless, and invisible to the naked eye making them difficult to identify and fix.

Contrary to common perception, poor indoor air quality caused by mold, water damage and other indoor pollutants is responsible for a wide range of negative health effects beyond just allergic type systems including: asthma, autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue, cancer, Alzheimer’s, immunosuppression and even death.

What’s worse, it often takes people years to make the connection between their health and their home if they ever make it at all. That translates into years of painful and mismatched treatments. It’s lost childhoods. It’s missed work and job opportunities. It’s years of significant emotional and financial burden on already overwhelmed individuals and families.

Simply put, what’s in our indoor air matters to our health and overall well-being. It’s time to ask yourself, how’s your air?
The statistics paint an important picture: we spend more time indoors than ever breathing air that is potentially bad for our health.

FAST FACTS

  • The average American adult spends more than 90% of their time indoors. 1
  • Concentrations of some indoor air pollutants are often 2-5 times higher-even up to 100 times higher-than outdoor concentrations. 2
  • 1 out of 2 homes in North America are affected by mold and indoor dampness. 3
  • 21% of all U.S. asthma cases are caused by mold exposure. 4
  • For just asthma alone, indoor dampness and mold results in $14-38 billion in health care costs
    annually, including hospitalizations, emergency room visits, doctor’s office visits, and
    prescription medicines. 3
  • Homes occupied by families living below the poverty line are more than twice as likely to have
    mold. 5
  • Only 7 states have licensure or certification programs for mold remediators. 3
  • 10 states have no laws pertaining to mold and/or dampness in any kind of building. (Alabama,
    Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, North Dakota, New Mexico, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.) 3
  • The majority of public school buildings are more than 50 years old and are not properly
    maintained to prevent mold growth. 6
  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1989). Report to Congress on indoor air quality: Volume 2. EPA/400/1-89/001C. Washington, DC.
  2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1987). The total exposure assessment methodology (TEAM) study: Summary and analysis. EPA/600/6-87/002a. Washington, DC.
  3. Change the Air Foundation. (2024). Promoting Policy Solutions for Household Dampness and Mold: Strategies for Protecting Our Health. Clearwater, FL.
  4. Mudarri, D., & Fisk, W. J. (2007). Public health and economic impact of dampness and mold. Indoor air, 17(3), 226–235. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2007.00474.x
  5. American Housing Survey, 2021.
  6. US EPA. (2024). Take Action to Improve Indoor Air Quality in Schools https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/take-action-improve-indoor-air-quality-schools