Classrooms more polluted than outdoors

Some classrooms have higher levels of ultrafine pollutants than outdoors due to activities like glueing, painting and drawing, says a new study.

Some classrooms have higher levels of ultrafine pollutants than outdoors due to activities like glueing, painting and drawing, says a new study.

There also were significant increases in ultrafine particle levels when detergents were used for cleaning.

Lidia Morawska from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) who conducted the study and colleagues note increasing concern in recent years over the health effects of airborne ultrafine particles.

Evidence suggests that they can be toxic when inhaled into the lungs. Much of the research, however, has focused on outdoor sources of these invisible particles, particularly vehicle emissions.

Little research has been done, however, on indoor sources, and even less on ultrafine particles in school classrooms.

Accordingly, scientists studied levels of ultrafine particles in three elementary school classrooms in Brisbane, Australia.

They found that on numerous occasions ultrafine particle levels were significantly higher than outdoors, says a QUT release.

These findings were published in American Chemical Society's bi-monthly Environmental Science and Technology.