快猫短视频

Say air pollution and we tend to think of car exhausts, large factories and open fires. But in Western cities, one of the biggest sources of air pollution is something else entirely: household items like your deodorant and shampoo.

A team including and of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Colorado examined data on air pollution from the US and Europe. Increasingly stringent regulations mean that pollution from cars and other vehicles has fallen. As a result, a larger proportion of pollution now comes from everyday consumer products that release a mix of carbon-based chemicals into the air.

To identify the types of product responsible, the team calculated the flow of chemicals in and out of the air of Los Angeles. The largest source was personal care products like hair spray, shampoo, deodorants and lotions, says McDonald. Other major sources were 鈥減aint and other coating-related products, adhesives, and cleaning agents鈥�, he says.

鈥淎s many of these emissions occur indoors, and given the amount of time spent indoors, there are potentially important health implications,鈥� says of King鈥檚 College London.

A tale of two cities

It is important to put these findings in context, however. They only apply to highly developed places like the US and western Europe, where air quality has generally been improving for decades, says of the University of British Columbia in Canada. In these places, emissions from consumer products are only significant because emissions from transport and industry have fallen so much.

For the locations in the world with the most severe air pollution problems such as China and India, the story remains unchanged, Brauer says. There, the main problems are 鈥渢raditional鈥� sources, like coal-fired power plants, wood, coal and dung burned for heating and cooking, and agricultural burning.

So the next time you see a report of horrendous smog in Delhi or Beijing, don鈥檛 blame the shampoo. There is also no reason to slow efforts to cut emissions from transport and other sources, both in the Western world and elsewhere.

Even in places where consumer products are now a major source, the findings do not mean that air pollution is getting worse. The reverse is generally true, and this study is about identifying the remaining sources.

[video_player id=鈥滾wilKw4y鈥� access_level=鈥漵ubscriber鈥漖

What to do?

Now we know that these everyday products are clogging up our air, what can we do about it?

We can all make a difference to this form of air pollution, through our own choices, says Gilman. 鈥淯sing the smallest amount possible to get the job done, or using fragrance-free products, are easy ways to reduce emissions.鈥� Even if this doesn鈥檛 make much difference to your neighbourhood, it may well improve the air in your home.

However, in the long run, public health specialists agree that new regulations must be passed to ensure that products emit less.

That may seem a daunting task, because the pollution is coming from such a wide range of products, but it is not impossible. For instance, many paints are now based on water rather than organic solvents, and as a result they hardly emit anything. Kelly also highlights the UK government鈥檚 recent ban on microbeads in cosmetics, introduced to tackle plastic pollution. 鈥淐hanges can be made,鈥� he says.

Cutting these emissions may be a win-win situation, says Brauer. 鈥淭he emissions are not waste products or by-products of combustion, but are essentially product that is being 鈥榣ost鈥� to the atmosphere,鈥� he says. 鈥淩educing their release during use means less of these compounds need to be produced.鈥� So manufacturers may ultimately make savings. Who knows, they might even pass them on to you.

Read more: Air pollution is sending tiny magnetic particles into your brain; London has already reached air pollution limits for 2018