You have landed on this page because you are interested in improving air quality and the health of people around the world.

If your health has been impacted by atmospheric chemical pollution then you are invited to submit a testimony which can be used to support our cause.

The Fresh Air Deal is available to download as a pdf document.

The Fresh Air Deal

Prepared by Abby Eagle 3/22 Tourangeau Crescent, Varsity Lakes 4227 Qld
Phone 07 5562 5718 Email abbyeagle@rejoiceinlife.com www.abbyeagle.com

ABSTRACT
The Fresh Air Deal is a proposal to regulate the use of toxic chemicals in the same way that cigarette smoking has been regulated and for much the same reasons.

Some environmental sources of atmospheric chemical pollution are motor vehicle exhaust, nail salons, hair salons, tanning rooms, the Myers makeup and cosmetic department, perfumes, deodorants, cleaning products, carpets, paints and surface coatings, artists paints, sharpies, white board markers, vinyl in new vehicles, plastic packaging, – the list is almost endless.

Many people suffer from health problems as a result of exposure to air borne chemicals. There needs to be more discussion in the community, in government and in the media in how to reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals and freshen up the air and improve the health of all people.

INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus
The world is facing a severe threat from the COVID virus. To prevent the spread of the virus there are now laws and regulations requiring people to maintain a social distance; to limit the size of groups; to limit travel; to self quarantine and to wear a mask. The onus is on the individual to protect the health of others.

Cigarettes
Some decades ago laws were passed to regulate the smoking of cigarettes. On the Tobacco Control Laws website it states that:

“Smoking is prohibited in virtually all indoor workplaces, indoor public places, and on public transport, as well as in some outdoor places, through a combination of national and sub-national law - the latter of which is more stringent.”
https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/legislation/country/australia/summary

In outdoor areas smoking may be prohibited with 4 - 10 metres of  a doorway or a specified area.

On the Gold Coast City Council website it states that:
Home based business/occupations (Gold Coast) - Queensland
Description
"Council plans establish minimum requirements for operating businesses from a residential property. As a general rule, home occupations or home businesses are permitted and do not require council approval when the business has no adverse impact on the environment or your neighbours."

… As long as "Your operation does not:
- release any contaminant as defined in the Environmental Protection Act 1994, including noise.
- interfere with the amenity of the neighbourhood (e.g. through noise emission, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, vapour, steam, soot, ash, dust, grit, oil, waste water, waste products, radio or electrical interference)."
https://ablis.business.gov.au/service/qld/home-based-business-occupations-gold-coast-/5911
(GCCC 135 Bundall Road, Bundall Qld. 07 5582 8211 mail@goldcoast.qld.gov.au)

(See also Subdivision 2 Environmental contamination in the Environmental Protection Act 1994. https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-1994-062)

COVID morbidity associated with chemical pollution
If you type the keywords, "covid deaths related to chemical pollution" into Google you will find a series of articles that explore the contribution of air pollution to COVID morbidity. See below:

Studies link COVID-19 deaths to air pollution, raising ... theconversation.com › studies-link-covid-19-deaths-to-... Oct 30, 2020 — Several studies have explored connections between air pollution and severe cases of the respiratory illnesses. The latest, published on Oct. 26, estimates that about 15% of people who died from COVID-19 worldwide had had long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution.

Regional and global contributions of air pollution to risk of ... academic.oup.com › advance-article › doi › cvr › cvaa288 Oct 26, 2020 — The degree to which air pollution influences COVID-19 mortality was ... the anthropogenic fraction was calculated with an atmospheric chemistry model. ... influenced by air pollution.

Air Pollutants, PFAS Increase Coronavirus Deaths ... theintercept.com › coronavirus-toxic-chemicals-pfas-bpa
Jun 26, 2020 — Scientists say that low levels of industrial chemicals like PFAS, BPA, and phthalates are linked with conditions that make Covid-19 worse.

Daily briefing: Air pollution linked to COVID deaths - Nature www.nature.com › nature briefing
Oct 27, 2020 — The treaty is the first comprehensive prohibition of nuclear weapons, placing them alongside biological and chemical weapons as illegitimate ...

Study estimates exposure to air pollution increases COVID-19 ... www.escardio.org › Press-Office › Press-releases › stud... Oct 27, 2020 — Long-term exposure to air pollution has been linked to an increased risk of ... that about 15% of deaths worldwide from COVID-19 could be attributed to ... of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany, and the ...

New Research Shows Disproportionate Rate of Coronavirus ... www.propublica.org › article › new-research-shows-dis... Sep 11, 2020 — The analysis examined air pollution and coronavirus deaths in the ... of the perceived health risks associated with local chemical emissions.

A GOLD COAST CASE STUDY
“My name is John and I am a 65 year old man. I live in Robina in a small three level block of apartments. There are 3 offices on the ground floor and there are 6 apartments on the 2 floors above. Each of the tenants has a garage which opens onto a small courtyard at the back of the building.

I have a neighbour who has spent the last couple of years renovating his office on the ground floor and his apartment on the first floor. On one occasion he painted the wall which separates my apartment from his. The paint fumes seeped through the wall into my apartment and made me feel dizzy and ill.

The same neighbour has a glazing, handyman home renovation type business – and he does a lot of work in his garage. Recently he contracted a job with a restaurant to restore a number of coffee tables. I saw him wearing a mask while sanding off the old paint from the tables. He then painted the tables with a lacquer. I can not tell you what that paint is but it smelt very similar to the paint smell that came through the adjoining wall.

Over a period of about 2 weeks he has systematically been sanding and painting the tables. The problem is that the paint fumes fill the corridor in the apartment block. The front door is closed at all times so the toxic paint chemicals find there way into my garage and into my apartment. When I smell paint fumes I tape up the door of my apartment with masking tape. But depending upon the direction of the wind the paint smell also comes through my bathroom and bedroom window. So I close the windows and then set up a fan and try and clear the air by blowing the air out the other end of the apartment and also by using the exhaust fan in the toilet. If the paint fumes are strong in the garage I can not retire to the garage in the evening for recreational activities.

I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).  The CDC estimates that one million people in the US have ME/CFS and as many as 17-24 million people worldwide have ME/CFS. https://me-pedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_myalgic_encephalomyelitis_

and_chronic_fatigue_syndrome

One of the problems is that people with CFS tend to be sensitive to chemicals. By sensitive I mean that chemicals can severely impact the health of someone with CFS. A bit like having a hangover from a bottle of whisky every day without actually having a drink. For many with CFS it is a challenge to stay alive and functional each day so we try and avoid chemicalised environments. But chemical fumes are not just a problem for people with CFS they are also dangerous for healthy people in that they may contribute to a wide range of health problems.

Some environmental sources of atmospheric chemical pollution are motor vehicle exhaust, nail salons, hair salons, tanning rooms, the Myers makeup and cosmetic department, perfumes, deodorants, cleaning products, carpets, paints and surface coatings, artists paints, sharpies, white board markers, vinyl in new vehicles, plastic packaging, – the list is almost endless.”

ARTICLES ON PAINT TOXICITY
“Can You Sleep in a Freshly Painted Room?
Have you recently painted your bedroom in your home? Often times we will paint rooms in our homes including rooms that we sleep in that will need time to air out before you can go back to sleeping in this indoor space. The harmful and potent fumes produced from the paint will off gas into the room as the paint dries and make it very dangerous for people to be exposed to these heightened chemical spaces.

The length of time that it may be potentially dangerous to sleep in a room that has been freshly painted can range depending on a number of different factors including the type of paint that was used, the amount of paint that was applied in the environment, and how much air flow and ventilation is available in this environment. It is recommended however, that as long as you have increased air flow and proper ventilation in the room continuously, than you should be able to re-enter the room within 3 to 5 days after painting and painting off gassing has finished – but for those who are particularly sensitive to chemicals and their odors it may take even longer than that before you can re-enter and sleep in this room.”

The Dangers of Breathing Paint Fumes by enviroklenz | May 16, 2019 | New Construction VOCs, Paint Odor Removal, Remove VOCs & Chemical Odors, Uncategorized
https://enviroklenzairpurifiers.com/dangers-of-breathing-paint-fumes/

“Are Paint Fumes a Health Concern? Here's What the Latest Science Says
The take-home message from all this research is that paint is potentially toxic—especially for “vulnerable” groups such as pregnant women, young children and the elderly. VOC levels are usually much higher indoors than out, especially if those indoor areas are not well ventilated. And wet or drying paint—particularly oil-based paints—tend to emit a lot of VOCs, says Clifford Weisel, a professor at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute of Rutgers University.”
https://time.com/5619823/paint-fumes-harmful-research/

What is in paint fumes?
“As paint dries, the ingredients that keep it in its liquid form—including any harmful chemicals that they may contain—start to evaporate, leading to that familiar “new paint” smell. This is why the smell of wet paint is so much stronger than the smell of dry paint, though paint can still emit vapors long after it has dried.

As a paint’s liquid ingredients start to evaporate, they release fumes containing harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. VOCs are carbon-based chemicals that evaporate at room temperature and have been found to cause a wide range of adverse health effects. The solvents present in paint can emit a variety of VOCs, including:
- Toluene
- Xylene
- Ethanol
- Benzene
- Dichloromethane
- Formaldehyde
- Trichloroethylene
- Propylene glycol
- Glycol ethers
- Styrene
- Acetone

The exact chemical makeup of paint fumes depends on the type of paint used. According to the EPA, water-based paints, usually referred to as latex or acrylic paints, emit fewer chemicals than oil-based paints. Choosing “no-VOC” or “low-VOC” paints can help decrease indoor air pollution and reduce health risks to members of the household, though they may still emit odors or other unwanted substances such as pesticides.”

Reference: “Are Paint Fumes Bad to Inhale in Your Home?” By Catherine Poslusny
June 29, 2019  https://molekule.science/are-paint-fumes-bad-to-inhale-in-your-home/

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT  1994
Definitions of environmental contaminants
Subdivision 2 Environmental contamination
10 Contamination
Contamination of the environment is the release (whether by act or omission) of a contaminant into the environment.

11 Contaminant
A contaminant can be—(a) a gas, liquid or solid; or (b) an odour; or (c) an organism (whether alive or dead), including a virus; or (d) energy, including noise, heat, radioactivity and electromagnetic radiation; or (e) a combination of contaminants.

12 Noise
Noise includes vibration of any frequency, whether emitted through air or another medium.

13 Waste
(1) Waste includes any thing, other than an end of waste resource, that is—
(a) left over, or an unwanted by-product, from an industrial, commercial, domestic or other activity; or
(b) surplus to the industrial, commercial, domestic or other activity generating the waste.
Example of paragraph (a)—Abandoned or discarded material from an activity is left over, or an unwanted by-product, from the activity.

(2) Waste can be a gas, liquid, solid or energy, or a combination of any of them.

(3) A thing can be waste whether or not it is of value.

(4) Despite subsection (1), an end of waste resource becomes waste—
(a) when it is disposed of at a waste disposal site; or
(b) if it is deposited at a place in a way that would, apart from its use under an end of waste code or end of waste approval, constitute a contravention of the general littering provision or the illegal dumping of waste provision under that Act—when the depositing starts.

Reference: Environmental Protection Act 1994
https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-1994-062

THE CLEAN AIR INITIATIVE
The “Clean Air Initiative” calls on national and subnational governments to commit to achieving air quality that is safe for citizens, and to align climate change and air pollution policies by 2030. According to WHO, each year, air pollution causes 7 million premature deaths, of which 600,000 are children.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO said: “Air pollution kills about 7 million people every year, and 9 out of 10 people globally breathe air that is not fit for human consumption. We need to agree unequivocally on the need for a world free of air pollution. We need all countries and cities to commit to meeting WHO standards for air quality.” July 23, 2019
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/07/clean-air-initiative-calls-climate-action/

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. I suggest that a submission be presented to both local and state government to regulate the use of toxic chemicals in our environment.

2. Categorise different types of paints according to the toxicity of the ingredients.

3. Place restrictions on who the different categories of paints may be sold to – and where and how they may be used.

4. In an apartment block in which there may be a number of different entities – every effort should be made to not pollute the shared spaces, as in corridors, stairwells, lifts, garages and the air space outside of the building. If that is not possible then the painting should not be allowed. Using exhaust fans to clear the air from shared spaces may not be  a good idea because it could draw more chemical fumes into the shared space. A more effective way to clear the air would be to open windows and doors and allow fresh air to enter the building.

5. Some paints should be banned from use in residential buildings.

6. Consideration should be given to phasing out the use of some types of industrial chemical paints, solvents and substances for the simple reason that in an industrial area where they may be able to use fume hoods and protective work wear, the chemicals are still exhausted into the environment and over time they have an impact upon the community. A case in point is that some of the places that have been hardest hit by the coronavirus are also some of the most polluted places in the world. (Italy, New York)

7. Healthier alternatives need to be found that have minimum impact upon human health. If no healthy alternative can be found then the substance should be banned for general use.

8. People should be invited to share their experience of being negatively impacted by atmospheric pollutants. For example, a neighbours cigarette smoke, paint fumes, deodorants, perfumes in the work place, new carpet smell, new car smell, hairdressers, nail salons, tanning salons, etc.

9. Stricter controls should be placed on home based businesses that pollute the environment.

10. Penalties and fines should be imposed upon whoever breaks the fresh air laws.

SUBMIT A CHEMICAL IMPACT TESTIMONY
If your health has been impacted by atmospheric chemical pollution then you are invited to submit a testimonyl which can be used to support our cause.

The Fresh Air Deal is available to download as a pdf document.

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Copyright © Abby Eagle

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