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Exercise Can Extend Your Life by as Much as Five Years

Adults who include at least 150 minutes of physical activity in their routines each week live longer than those who don’t, finds a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Promoting the years of life that can be gained from moderate activity may be a better motivator to get Americans moving, said study author Ian Janssen, Ph.D., of Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada.

Janssen and his team used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the National Health Interview Study mortality linkage, and U.S. Life Tables to estimate and compare the life expectancy at each age for adults who were inactive, somewhat-active and active. “Active” was defined as doing at least 150 minutes of moderate activity per week.

They found that men at age 20 were estimated to gain as much as 2.4 years of life from moderate activity. Women at age 20 gained about 3 additional years from engaging in moderate activity. The biggest benefit from physical activity was seen in non-Hispanic black women, who gained as many as 5.5 potential years of life.

Janssen hopes the positive message of the study can help health officials better relay the importance of exercise to the public.

“Research has shown that the health messages that have the greatest effect on changing people’s behaviors need to be easy to understand, specific to the individual, and be phrased in a gained-framed and positive manner,” he explained.

“The messages on longevity gains associated with physical activity that were developed in this paper meet all three of those characteristics,” Janssen added. “That is, people will understand what it means if you tell them they will live 2½ years longer if they become active.”

Sara Bleich, Ph.D., assistant professor of Health Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said presenting the issue as “years of life gained” versus “years of life loss” raises the classic issue of the carrot or the stick, that is, when it comes to behavior change, do people prefer to be rewarded or penalized?

“For healthy behavior changes such as dieting or smoking, rewards have been shown to effectively motivate behavior change,” she continued. “From the current research, it is unclear whether rewards or penalties are more effective at motivating behavior change, but it is clear that rewards do work.”
Source: Health Behavior News Service, part of the Center for Advancing Health
Photo: freedigitalphotos.net 

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VIDEO: Woman's allergies were really a leak in her brain

This story might have you second guessing your doctors. Despite numerous medical professionals telling her her constant runny nose was due to allergies, a woman from Tucson says she was convinced there was more to it and she was right....her brain was leaking...

(Starts after a commercial)



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Chemical Exposure: Study Shows BPA Exposure in Fetal Livers

New research from the University of Michigan School of Public Health found BPA, or bisphenol A, in fetal liver tissue, demonstrating that there is considerable exposure to the chemical during pregnancy.

Researchers also found a proportionately higher concentration of free BPA—as opposed to the conjugated forms modified by the body for elimination—further showing that in fetuses the ability to eliminate the chemical from the body is not the same as in adults.

"The general message from our research is that people have to be cognizant of the fact that the adult body may be able to deal with a particular exposure but a developing fetus may not," said Muna Nahar, doctoral student in the School of Public Health's Department of Environmental Health Sciences and first author on the paper.

Previous animal studies have associated BPA with breast and prostate cancer, and reproductive and behavioral abnormalities. Some research on effects to human health has tied BPA to cardiovascular disease, miscarriage, decreased semen quality and childhood behavioral issues. The chemical also may impact metabolism, diabetes and obesity, although more studies are required to determine its effects.

"The finding of free BPA in fetuses is significant," said Dana Dolinoy, the John G. Searle Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and senior/corresponding author of the study.

After measuring a three-times-higher concentration of free BPA than the conjugated forms in the fetal livers, the researchers then examined the enzymes responsible for metabolizing the chemical and compared them with those at work in adult male and female livers.

"Our research shows that the argument that it's so rapidly metabolized is not true in fetuses," Dolinoy said.

The study appears online in the Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology

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Researchers make key discovery in fight against Alzheimer's disease

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada have discovered a drug intended for diabetes appears to restore memory in Alzheimer's brain cells.

Jack Jhamandas, a researcher with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the U of A, is the principal investigator with the team whose research results were recently published in the peer-reviewed publication The Journal of Neuroscience. He works in the Division of Neurology.

The team took brain tissue from animal models with Alzheimer's disease and tested the tissue in the lab, looking specifically at the cells' memory capacity. When brain cells are shocked by a barrage of electrical impulses, the cells "remember" the experience and this is a typical way to test or measure memory in the lab setting.

Amyloid protein, which is found in abnormally large amounts in the memory and cognition parts of the brains of Alzheimer's patients, diminishes memory. A sister protein, known as amylin, which comes from the pancreas of diabetic patients, has the same impact on memory cells.

Jhamandas and his team demonstrated last year that a diabetes drug that never made it to market, known as AC253, could block the toxic effects of amyloid protein that lead to brain cell death.

In the lab, Jhamandas and his teammates, which included Ryoichi Kimura, a visiting scientist from Japan, tested the memory of normal brain cells and those with Alzheimer's—both from animal models. When the drug AC253 was given to brain cells with Alzheimer's and the shock memory tests were redone, memory was restored to levels similar to those in normal cells.

"This is very important because it tells us that drugs like this might be able to restore memory, even after Alzheimer's disease may have set in," says Jhamandas.

His team is continuing their research in this area and wants to see if the drug, when given before symptoms appear, can "stop the impairment of behaviour and cognition altogether in animals destined to develop Alzheimer's," says Jhamandas. Their continued research tests will take a least a year to complete.

He noted it is difficult for AC253 to cross the brain barrier, so research teams in pharmaceutical companies would need to design a similar drug that is easier to penetrate brain cells. Jhamandas says if the tests are successful, he thinks clinical trials could start within about five years, but he stressed that further testing needs to be done before such trials can occur.

"I think what we discovered may be part of the solution, but I can't say it will be the solution. There is a long list of drugs and approaches that haven't panned out as expected in the fight against Alzheimer's. I don't think one drug or approach will solve Alzheimer's disease because it's a complicated disease, but I am cautiously optimistic about our discovery and its implications."

VIDEO: AT&T developing sensor to warn asthmatics of chemical triggers in the air

AT&T researchers are developing a sensor that can alert asthma sufferers when there are high levels of chemical triggers in the air.

“The increasing prevalence of asthma due to plastics, cleaning chemicals, and other airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the home and elsewhere are a likely cause,” notes AT&T Labs researcher Bob Miller.

The telecommunications giant, previewed the sensor, called Asthma Triggers, at a health summit in Maryland last week. It measures volatile organic compounds (known as VOCs) - a class of chemicals that tend to aggravate sensitive lungs. VOC's are found in everything from shower curtains to paint.




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Asbestos: DIY Reno Kills Man Decades Later

(Webwire) Geoffrey Newton, a top orthopaedic surgeon, died from mesothelioma, a cancer affecting the lining of the lungs, after being a keen DIYer for many years. Speaking to the Daily Mail his wife Pat, 82, said that Mr Newton worked on projects including building a boat and converting an old school house into a home – and that at 81 he was working on fitting a new kitchen and bathroom in their property.

It is believed that Mr Newton was exposed to asbestos while removing an old boiler from the couple’s property in Burton-on-Trent and while the incident took place 37 years ago, it was still enough to trigger the fatal respiratory condition.

His wife explained: “It was 37 years ago, but I still remember all the white dust that came out with it. At the time, it was known that brown and blue asbestos were dangerous, but not white, so we assumed the dust was harmless.”

According to figures in the Daily Mail the number of people who die each year from mesothelioma has almost quadrupled in the past three decades.

Speaking to the newspaper, medical adviser to the British Lung Foundation Dr John Moore-Gillon said that many people mistakenly believe asbestos is no longer a danger as it was banned from use so long ago – but asbestos can still exist in older buildings, and be disturbed during renovations.

“What is worrying is that we barely have the resources to treat the condition, so if numbers continue to rise then there could be a huge strain in terms of treating everyone,” he warned.

While asbestos is a natural fibre it can be extremely harmful to people if inhaled and mesothelioma is almost always fatal. Those exposed to asbestos, which can be present in ceiling tiles, old boilers and insulation, are also vulnerable to certain cancers.

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Dogs Able to Sniff Out Lung Cancer

(AFP) Dogs are surprisingly adept at sniffing out lung cancer, according to results from a Austrian pilot project, potentially offering hope for earlier, life-saving diagnosis.

"Dogs have no problem identifying tumour patients," said Peter Errhalt, head of the pulmonology department at Krems hospital in northern Austria, one of the authors of the study.

The test saw dogs achieve a 70-percent success rate identifying cancer from 120 breath samples, a result so "encouraging" that a two-year study 10 times larger will now take place, Errhalt said.

The results echo anecdotal evidence of odd canine behaviour when around cancer sufferers and are backed up by the results of similar small studies, including one by German scientists in 2011.

The ultimate aim is not however to have canines stationed in hospitals, but for scentists to identify what scents the dogs are detecting, explained Michael Mueller from the Otto Wagner Hospital in Vienna, who collaborated on the pilot project.

This in turn could help scientists reproduce in the long term a kind of "electronic nose" -- minus the wagging tail -- that could help diagnose lung cancer in the early stages, thereby dramatically improving survival rates, Mueller said.

IVF children more likely to have asthma

Asthma is more common among children born after IVF and other treatments than among children who have been planned and conceived naturally, suggests a study led by Oxford University researchers.

However, the researchers say that their findings should not worry parents of children born after assisted reproduction technology (ART).

Dr Claire Carson, a member of the research team at Oxford University's National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, said: 'Although the children born after ART were more likely to be diagnosed and treated for asthma than other children, it is important to remember that in absolute terms the difference is quite small.

'Fifteen per cent of the children in our study had asthma at the age of five. Although this figure was higher, 24%, in the IVF children, it isn't much higher than the one in five risk for all children in the UK.'

She added: 'Although we found an association, we cannot tell at this time if it is causal. Further research is needed to establish what might be causing the association and the underlying mechanism involved. It is also important to remember that for most children, asthma is a manageable condition and shouldn't prevent children from living a full and active life.'

The study found that at the age of five, children born to parents who had had to wait longer than a year before managing to conceive, or who had conceived via ART, were more likely to experience asthma, wheezing and to be taking anti-asthmatic medication.

The association was driven mainly by children born after in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). These children were two to four times more likely to have asthma, wheezing or be taking anti-asthmatics.

The study by researchers at the universities of Oxford and Essex is published in the journal Human Reproduction.

The UK Millennium Cohort Study is following the progress of 18,818 children from across the UK who were born between 2000 and 2002. It is one of the few large observational studies where data are available on conception, asthma diagnoses and key social and lifestyle factors that could influence the results.

The Oxford and Essex researchers analysed data from surveys of the children at age five and seven, who were all single births (no twins were included).

The researchers asked mothers about conception and, once the children had reached the ages of five and seven, whether the children had ever had asthma, wheezing or were taking medications for treating asthma.

The researchers also took into account a range of other factors, including mothers' history of asthma, smoking, body mass index, socioeconomic status, any furry pets in household, and premature births.

Of the 18,818 children in the study, full data were available for 13,041 of the children at age five, and 11,585 by the time they were seven. Among the five year olds, 104 were born after ART.

The researchers say there could be a number of possible explanations for the association between infertility and asthma. These include: the severity of the infertility; infertility treatment; over-reporting of asthmatic symptoms by excessively protective ART parents (but the researchers think this is unlikely); or other, confounding factors that may not have been taken account of.

Dr Carson said: 'Childhood asthma is a common condition in the UK where the prevalence of the condition is higher than other European countries, and (to our knowledge) this is the first UK study of asthma after IVF conceptions.

'Our analysis suggests that it is the ART group in particular who are at higher risk. However, we do need to be reasonably cautious when interpreting the results because there is a relatively small number of IVF cases in our study – just 104 babies.'

The researchers, led by Maria Quigley of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University, will continue to follow the children's progress to see if the same effect can be seen at age 11. They say more research needs to be conducted in larger groups of children born after ART to see if their findings can be replicated.

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Child Safety Expert Gives Tips: Is Your House a Winter Wonderland or Nightmare Before Christmas?

Maybe it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around your house, but what seems festive to adults can become lethal to children. Bridget Boyd, MD, pediatrician and Loyola University Health System pediatric safety expert, has tips to make sure your holiday doesn’t become a nightmare before Christmas.

“Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but it can quickly turn tragic if we’re not careful,” said Boyd. “Sometimes in our attempts to make Christmas extra special for our kids and grandkids, safety can get lost in the mix.”

According to Boyd, safety is an important part of all Christmas activities, including decorating and gift-giving.

Decorating:
When picking out the perfect Christmas tree, the fresher the better.

“Think about the movie “A Christmas Story” and don’t get a tree like that. A fresh tree will have fewer needles falling off. Dry trees are a fire hazard and if you have small children or pets they could ingest the needles that have fallen off the tree,” said Boyd.

She also suggested making sure the bottom of the tree is cut off before bringing it into the house and that the tree stand is always filled with water. Place the tree away from fireplaces and portable heaters as this is a fire hazard.

When trimming the tree, make sure the bottom branches have kid-friendly ornaments that won’t break, are free of sharp edges and do not pose a choking hazard.
Also avoid using decorations that look like candy or food, especially if there are small children in the home.

The lights on the tree should be designated for indoor use. Test them to make sure all the bulbs work before placing them on the tree. When leaving the house or going to bed, turn off all lights. This too is a fire hazard.

The tree isn’t the only Christmas plants that can be dangerous for children. The following plants can cause stomach issues if ingested:

• Jerusalem Cherry Plants
• Mistletoe
• Holly Berries
• Poinsettias
• Amaryllis

Gift-giving:
Shopping for infants and toddlers can be difficult since many toys are labeled appropriate for ages three and up. Though it may limit the options, Boyd said following age-appropriate guidelines is important for keeping kids safe.

“Age labels are monitored closely and should be taken seriously. Choking and strangulation hazards can mean life or death to a child,” said Boyd. “When opening gifts also watch out for ribbons that could be a strangulation hazard and try to keep older children’s gifts away from younger children so there is not accidental ingestion of a small part.”

If a child is under the age of 2, they are more than likely going to put whatever they are given in their mouth, so avoid items with paint, chemicals or small parts. Also, button batteries are extremely dangerous for small children.

“Go to the emergency room immediately if a child has placed a button battery into their body. This includes swallowing as well as shoving up the nose or in the ear,” said Boyd.

Still, gift-giving safety isn’t just about swallowing hazards, it’s also thinking about the entire well-being of a child.

“When thinking about what gift to give, try to find something that encourages the child to use their imagination and get up and get moving,” said Boyd.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children spend no more than two hours in front a screen a day. This includes video games, computers, phones and TVs.

“So many young kids want cell phones, but is that really the best gift to give a child? Think about what is age-appropriate. There will be plenty of time to give phones and videos games in the future,” said Boyd.

If you do give an electronic gift, Boyd says supervision is key, especially if it involves the Internet.

“Unfortunately, cyber predators and cyberbullying are becoming more common and pose a very real risk to children. If your child does receive a computer for Christmas, make sure you supervise their internet use. The best place for a computer is in the family room,” said Boyd. “There should be no screens, including computers, TVs or phones in a child or adolescent’s room. Screen time can interfere with sleep as well as distract them from participating in healthier activities for body and mind.”

Second-Hand Smoke Linked to Behavior Problems in Children

It is a known fact that active maternal smoking during pregnancy has negative effects on child health, such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, new research suggests that exposure to second hand smoke, or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), may be just as harmful.

In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing examined data from 646 mother-child pairs in China, where more than 70 percent of men smoke, and concluded that 25% children of whose mothers were exposed to smoke exhibited behavior problems compared to 16% of children of unexposed mothers.

“Such findings could inform public health efforts to reduce public smoking and underscores the need for including ETS avoidance as a potential component of prenatal care among pregnant women,” said lead-author Jianghong-Liu, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor at Penn Nursing.

Using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), a widely used, 99-item scale for assessing behavioral and emotional problems in children, researchers determined children of mothers with ETS exposure had 10% more prevalence of externalizing behavior problems than children of unexposed mothers. The results took factors like parental education, occupation, psychological problems and marriage status into account. The full results were published online this week in the journal NeuroToxicology.

Externalizing behavior problems included attention problems and aggression. Children of passive smoking mothers demonstrated worse performance on tests of speech and language skills, intelligence, and behavioral outcomes (conduct disorders).

“Given the high prevalence of ETS exposure among pregnant women in China and the far-reaching effects of child behavioral disturbance on public health outcomes, it is critical to reduce ETS exposure in order to improve the health of not only mothers and their children but that of society at large,” said Dr. Liu. “The key message for pregnant women is to protect their growing fetus from exposure to secondhand smoke.”

While additional, more longitudinal, research is needed to validate the findings, the researchers agree that this study gives some clarity to the relationship between ETS and behavioral disturbance in children.

Stomach Flu Virus Stands Up to Typical Restaurant Dishwashing Measures

Restaurant dishes and silverware may be an overlooked place where people can catch stomach viruses, according to a new study. While the current industry guidelines for cleaning dishware used in public settings are effective at neutralizing bacteria, researchers at The Ohio State University found that they appear to fall short of eliminating norovirus.

Norovirus is the leading cause of epidemic gastroenteritis and the major cause of foodborne illness worldwide, responsible for at least 50% of all gastroenteritis outbreaks in the United States.

“We know that when public food establishments follow the cleaning protocols, they do a very good job at getting rid of bacteria,” said Melvin Pascall, associate professor, Department of Food Science and Technology at Ohio State. “Now we can see that the protocols are less effective at removing and killing viruses – and this may help explain why there are still so many illnesses caused by cross-contaminated food.”

Supported by a grant from the Ohio State Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Pascall and Jianrong Li, assistant professor of virology at Ohio State, led a team of virologists and public health experts to test the ability of the norovirus and common bacteria to make it through a variety of “real life” food service cleaning scenarios that included manual and mechanical washing.

To carry out the experiment, the research team infused cream cheese and reduced fat milk - two foods that are known for being difficult to clean off - with murine norovirus (MNV-1), Escherichia coli (E. coli K-12) or Listeria innocua (L. innocua). The scientists then applied the dairy products to stainless steel utensils, ceramic plates and glassware, and put the tableware through a variety of chlorine and quaternary ammonium compound (QAC)-based sanitary protocols delivered via a commercial dishwasher or hand washing.

The team found that while both the commercial dishwasher and manual washing reduced bacterial loads of E. coli K-12 and L. innocua enough to meet safety standards, neither technique was able to significantly reduce the presence of MNV-1. Overall, dishes that were hand washed were more likely to contain traces of both bacteria and viruses than those cleaned in a commercial dishwasher.

“Even though the protocols were able to kill some of the virus, norovirus is highly contagious and it takes only a few viral particles to infect humans,” said Jianrong Li, assistant professor of food virology, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Food Science and Technology (College of Food Agriculture and Environmental Sciences), and the Department of Environmental Health Sciences (College of Public Health). ‘”These results would indicate that the neither the detergents nor sanitizers used in current cleaning protocols are effective against the norovirus at the currently used concentrations.”

The scientists acknowledge that dairy products themselves could have protected the virus from heat and the sanitizing solutions. When the solutions were tested against MNV-1 in isolation, they were effective at killing more of the virus, but still not enough to eradicate the virus completely. Building off these research results, Pascall and Li’s team will next investigate if Hepatitis A and influenza viruses are able to get past current washing and sanitization protocols.

“Proper sanitation and handling remain the single biggest factor that can prevent cross-contamination of food and dishware at food service establishments, said Pascall. “However, it appears that we need to identify better agents or methods to significantly reduce the presence of norovirus and work to update the protocols.”

Norovirus is responsible for 90% of epidemic non- bacterial cases of gastroenteritis and is commonly associated with illnesses seen on cruise ships and other “closed communities” where the virus can spread easily.

“Norovirus spreads rapidly through confined populations and can easily contaminate food or water. Numerous point-source outbreaks are attributed to contaminated water sources where food is grown and cultivated or through the improper handling of food by infected handlers,” said Kurt Stevenson, professor of internal medicine and epidemiology in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center.

Stevenson, who was not part of the study, helped author guidelines for the Centers for Disease Control on preventing and controlling norovirus outbreaks in a healthcare setting, also noted that norovirus causes an estimated 91,000 emergency room visits and 23,000 hospitalizations for severe diarrhea among children under the age of five.

Food Allergies? Pesticides in Tap Water Might be to Blame

Food allergies are on the rise, affecting 15 million Americans. And according to a new study published in the December issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), pesticides and tap water could be partially to blame.

The study reported that high levels of dichlorophenols, a chemical used in pesticides and to chlorinate water, when found in the human body, are associated with food allergies.

“Our research shows that high levels of dichlorophenol-containing pesticides can possibly weaken food tolerance in some people, causing food allergy,” said allergist Elina Jerschow, M.D., M.Sc., ACAAI fellow and lead study author. “This chemical is commonly found in pesticides used by farmers and consumer insect and weed control products, as well as tap water.”

Among 10,348 participants in a US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006, 2,548 had dichlorophenols measured in their urine and 2,211 were included into the study. Food allergy was found in 411 of these participants, while 1,016 had an environmental allergy.

“Previous studies have shown that both food allergies and environmental pollution are increasing in the United States,” said Dr. Jerschow. “The results of our study suggest these two trends might be linked, and that increased use of pesticides and other chemicals is associated with a higher prevalence of food allergies.”

While opting for bottled water instead of tap water might seem to be a way to reduce the risk for developing an allergy, according to the study such a change may not be successful.

“Other dichlorophenol sources, such as pesticide-treated fruits and vegetables, may play a greater role in causing food allergy,” said Dr. Jerschow.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an increase in food allergy of 18 percent was seen between 1997 and 2007. The most common food allergens are milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, tree nuts, soy, fish, and shellfish.

Food allergy symptoms can range from a mild rash to a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis. The ACAAI advises everyone with a known food allergy to always carry two doses of allergist prescribed epinephrine. A delay in using epinephrine is common in severe food allergic reaction deaths.

Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

FAQ: Activated Carbon in Home Air Purifiers for Chemicals and Odors

Although carbon purification has been used for thousands of years, most people unfamiliar with air filtration are surprised to see activated carbon filters when beginning their research on air purifiers. Activated carbon, also known as activated charcoal, is an important level in the filtration process that removes airborne chemicals, gases and odors.  When paired with a good quality particle filter, air purifiers with activated carbon filters remove a much wider range of contaminants than a standard HEPA-only dust cleaner.

What is Activated Carbon?

Carbon which is “activated” has undergone a process to open up millions of tiny pores and fissures. The surface area created by the activation is so extensive that if you could spread out all of the microscopic openings found in one teaspoon of carbon, it would cover an entire football field.  This gives the activated carbon its impressive adsorption qualities. The word adsorption should not be confused with absorption.  Adsorption describes how molecules or particles bind to the carbon. The huge surface area of activated carbon gives pollutants many bonding sites. When used in air purifiers, chemicals, gases and odors drawn into the unit will attach to the carbon and be trapped. 

About Carbon for Air Purifiers 

Activated carbon is made from a variety of substances that have naturally high carbon contents such as coal, wood and coconut shells. The raw material used will have a different impact on the performance of the air filter and which pollutants it can effectively remove. In some air purifiers, activated carbon is mixed with other minerals or impregnated with additional compounds to better attract and remove specific airborne chemicals and odors including pet urine, cat litter odor, formaldehyde, fragrances and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s).

AllerAir is an industry leader in customizable carbon air purifiers and have over 40 blends of activated carbon to address a wide range of air quality problems. A customized option is ideal for those with significant chemical, gas and odor issues as well as those who suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS).

The Most Effective Activated Carbon Air Purifiers

There are a wide variety of air purifiers that claim to contain “odor” removing filters. The quality and effectiveness of these air purifiers depends on what’s inside the filters. Some air purifiers only contain thin mesh filters with activated carbon dust sprayed on. These filters will very quickly become saturated with pollutants and must be changed often to be effective. Air purifiers with many pounds of activated carbon can last from 2 to 5 years depending on the level of airborne pollutants.

The depth of the filter is also important. Air purifiers with thicker carbon filters will remove more chemicals and odors with each pass of air as there will be more carbon for the pollutants to travel through and more opportunities to be trapped.

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VIDEO: Air still unsafe in South Jersey after chemical spill

Schools remain closed today and about a hundred homes are off-limits to residents due to rising unsafe chemical levels in the air from a train derailment last week. The chemical, vinyl chloride has not yet been removed from the ruptured tank car. Dozens of people were treated in hospital with breathing difficulties in the hours after the crash on Friday. 

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