Each person inhales over 3,500 gallons of air each day. Children inhale more particles for their size than adolescents or adults. Polluted air causes 94% of all respiratory problems. More than 31 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma, about 1/3 are children under 18. About 40,000 dust mites, a common household allergen, can live in one ounce of dust. An estimated 10-15% of the entire population may be allergic to cat or dog dander. A person sheds up to 700,000 skin flakes per day. Exposure to poor indoor air quality can cause short-term eye, nose and throat irritation as well as headaches, dizziness and fatigue. It can also exacerbate the effects of asthma, particularly in children. Over time, this exposure can lead to respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease or even cancer. Click Here to view a chart comparing all GeneralAire® air cleaner options. Click Here to watch a video illustrating why you would install a quality air cleaner rather than using a 1" or 2" filter.

Click Here to read the 2015 State of the Air Report by the American Lung Association. AC 500 HEPA Air Cleaner AC Series Air Cleaners MAC Series Air CleanersProtecting Florida’s residents from the deadly effects of secondhand smoke (SHS) is critical to keeping our communities healthy and vibrant. air purifier bad for youThe Florida Clean Indoor Air Act (FCIAA) was enacted in 1985 by the Florida Legislature to protect people from the health hazards of SHS. car aircon cleaning philippinesIn 2003, the Legislature passed an amendment to prohibit smoking in workplaces that previously allowed smoking. air purifier operationThis was a major step toward preventing the serious health conditions and preventable deaths that can result from exposure to SHS.

Because of that amendment, Florida law prohibits smoking in most public and private businesses including restaurants. While there are few exceptions, such as stand-alone bars, retail tobacco shops and airport in-transit smoking lounges, the amendment makes it possible for people to read a book at a coffee shop, grab lunch with valued business partners or celebrate a family milestone without being exposed to the deadly mix of more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, nearly 80 known to cause cancer. Smoking is defined by the law as “possessing any lighted tobacco product, including cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and any other lighted tobacco product.” According to this definition, the use of smokeless tobacco products and the use of e-cigarettes are exempted from the law. Businesses do not always comply with the law and this can lead to severe health consequences, particularly for children, people with existing health conditions, and the elderly who are more vulnerable to the effects of SHS exposure.

By reporting a violation of the law, you can play an important role in ensuring that your loved ones and neighbors are better protected from toxic SHS. For more information download the FCIAA brochure. Help Protect Florida’s Families From Secondhand Smoke If you see unlawful smoking, report the violation to the Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida. Click Here To Learn More The Florida Clean Indoor Air Act (FCIAA) protects people from secondhand smoke (SHS). In November 2002, 71% of Florida’s voters approved a state constitutional amendment to prohibit smoking in enclosed indoor workplaces. The law became effective July 1, 2003. “Enclosed indoor workplace” means any place where one or more persons engage in work, and that is predominantly or totally bounded on all sides and above by physical barriers. The FCIAA includes specific exceptions where smoking may be allowed indoors, including a private residence when not being used commercially, stand-alone bars, retail tobacco shops, smoking guest rooms in hotels and motels, smoking cessation programs and airport in-transit smoking lounges on the international side of airports.

Floridians are still regularly exposed to SHS, a dangerous mix of 7,000 chemicals and compounds, hundreds that are toxic and at least 80 known to cause cancer. There is indisputable evidence that implementing 100 percent smoke-free environments is the only effective way to protect the population from the harmful effects of exposure to SHS. There is no risk-free level of exposure to SHS; breathing even a little SHS can be dangerous. Creating separate non-smoking areas in establishments that allow smoking, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings do not eliminate SHS. Exposure to SHS can cause serious illnesses and even death. Since 1964, 2.5 million nonsmokers in the U.S. have died because of SHS exposure. Secondhand smoke exposure is causally linked to heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, lower respiratory illness, and impaired lung function. Each year, among U.S. nonsmokers, exposure to SHS causes an estimated 33,000 premature deaths from heart disease 8 and about 3,400 premature deaths from lung cancer.

Nonsmokers exposed to SHS at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 to 30 percent and their risk of developing lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent. Inhaling SHS could be enough to block arteries and trigger a heart attack in someone whose arteries are silently clogged. Exposure to SHS is very dangerous for children. Breathing SHS increases a child’s risk of lung problems, ear infections, and severe asthma. Infants exposed to SHS are at a greater risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). 13 SIDS is the sudden, unexplained, unexpected death of an infant in the first year of life. SIDS is the leading cause of death in otherwise healthy infants. SHS can trigger an asthma attack. A severe asthma attack can put a child’s life in danger. In the first two years of life, children exposed to SHS have more than a 50 percent increased risk of getting bronchitis and pneumonia. "The new air cleaning equipment based on a simple catalyst successfully processes and removes gaseous materials in cigarette smoke, which are not easily removed with the existing air cleaning technologies,"

Researchers say that a new air-cleaning filter can get rid of all the harmful smoke substances in a room where ten people are simultaneously smoking in less than an hour. The filter is coated with a manganese oxide-based nano-catalyst, which can be used in a smoking room to reduce and purify major harmful substances of cigarette smoke. The air cleaning equipment based on the newly-developed catalyst can purify over 80% of the cigarette smoke within 30 minutes and 100% of it within an hour, in a 30 square meter smoking room, where 10 people are smoking simultaneously. Activated charcoal-based filters are mostly used in a smoking room to remove gaseous materials from cigarette smoke. However, those filters are not effective in removing gaseous materials such as acetaldehyde. Their absorption performance decreases fast in a closed facility such as a smoking room, and they need to be replaced at least every other week. The nano-catalyst filter uses a technology that decomposes elements of cigarette smoke using oxygen radical, which is generated by decomposing ozone in the air on the surface of the manganese-oxide-based nano-catalyst filter.

An evaluation test with total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), such as acetaldehyde, nicotine and tar, which account for the largest volume of gaseous materials in cigarette smoke, was conducted to evaluate the performance of the newly-developed catalyst. The results showed that the new catalyst decomposed over 98% of the harmful substances. "The new air cleaning equipment based on a simple catalyst successfully processes and removes gaseous materials in cigarette smoke, which are not easily removed with the existing air cleaning technologies," said Dr Jongsoo Jurng of Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KSIT) in Seoul, who led the study with Dr Gwi-Nam. "If the new equipment can be simplified and is economically feasible, it will be an important tool for keeping smoking room pleasant and clean. Also, from the convergence perspective, the new nanometre catalyst filter can be integrated with other air cleaning products such as air purifiers and air conditioners," Jurng said.