How to deal with the risks associated with indoor environmental pollution?

In France, 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing a high level of pollutants[2], giving rise to numerous pathologies.

And while it is urgent to raise awareness of this public health issue, the risk of damage to buildings linked to humidity must also receive increased attention.

Major challenges that Murprotec, the European leader in definitive treatment against humidity and indoor air pollution, is warning about, and whose CSR commitment aims to enable everyone to breathe healthy air in a healthy building.

Making indoor air pollution a public health issue

In France, while 90% of life takes place indoors[3] – from home to office and public and private establishments – no fewer than 9 out of 10 people breathe indoor air containing high levels of pollutants, causing 20.000 premature deaths per year[4]. Globally, this figure rises to nearly 4 million individuals each year.

An alarming observation due to the many pathologies generated by this alteration of indoor air: respiratory and skin allergies, asthma, lung cancers or even strokes... Thus, when living in a damp home or in contact with mold increases the risk of contracting asthma by 40%[5], cohabitation with dust mites generates 70% of allergies[6]. In children under 5 years old, 50% of deaths from pneumonia are also directly linked to the inhalation of particulate matter indoors[7].

The cause is the infiltration of polluting molecules such as radon[8] or formaldehyde[9] emanating directly from road traffic, nearby factories, paints, heating appliances and cleaning products; all agents capable of causing “Sick Building Syndrome”.

Being informed is therefore essential to take the necessary measures, both on an individual and collective scale. This is why Murprotec, a group specializing in building diagnostics, has made it its mission to raise public awareness of the health risks associated with indoor pollution.

Alerting about damage to buildings caused by humidity

While it is impacted by human activities and polluting materials, indoor air also suffers the consequences of ambient humidity caused in particular by construction in humid areas, clayey soils or, quite simply, a lack of maintenance.

And if mold, the first warning signs, are pathogenic for human health, the impact of humidity on the very structure of the building is clear; rising damp, water infiltration, condensation, high humidity and multiple leaks then cause loss of thermal insulation of the walls, degradation of materials, proliferation of fungi or even electrical risks.

Thus, 37% of French homes contain traces of mold[10] causing unsanitary walls capable of compromising the structure of a building and its aesthetics.

Strong indicators that the Muprotec group is warning about, whose main objective is to preserve the integrity and value of the building.

An indoor air treatment solution for individuals and professionals

It is therefore with the desire to limit both health risks and structural threats to buildings that the Murprotec group has developed a definitive treatment against humidity and indoor air pollution.

With its centralized value chain, from laboratory R&D to structural treatment, Murprotec has been serving owners – individuals and businesses –, communities and building professionals for 70 years.

The Group's objective is to identify, through a precise diagnosis carried out by a Murprotec expert and cutting-edge technology, the cause of the deterioration and the correct treatment to apply in order to meet its motto: "healthy air in a healthy building".

[1] ADEME – Environment and Energy Management Agency

[2] World Health Organization

[3] ADEME – Environment and Energy Management Agency

[4] ADEME – Environment and Energy Management Agency

[5] European Community Respiratory Health Survey II

[6] Mites: “Epidemiology of respiratory allergic diseases” – Treatise on allergology 2003 and Allergies and indoor air in individual housing DDASS of La Gironde 2004

[7] ADEME – Environment and Energy Management Agency

[8] Radon causes 3.000 deaths/year (source: ADEME)

[9] 100% of homes are polluted with formaldehyde, a substance proven to be carcinogenic to humans (source: ADEME)

[10] ADEME – Environment and Energy Management Agency

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.