Panacea to Home Pollution

All the hoopla on global climate change is turning more into a diplomatic battle between superpowers of the world and poorer countries.

In the melee, something as serious as pollution and temperature rise outside of homes - indoor pollution, is not talked about. Save for those `how to' manuals online and reams of newsprint that insist on clean homes, there is hardly any material available on how to keep dirt in the air away at home. Or to keep pollution at bay. And air fresheners do not suffice in cleaning up such atmospheric grime.

New research has thrown up something really interesting. It is true research must be looked at with some suspicion in this age of market driven and at times company sponsored research. Something published in the telegraph today however hardly needs any authentication. It's something the back of our heads know, but are not willing to acknowledge.

UK's Telegraph reports about findings of a research that goes thus:

New research shows that ornamental plants can drastically reduce levels of stress and ill health and boost performance levels at work because they soak up harmful indoor air pollution.

Researchers have now identified five "super ornamental plants" which every workplace should have to clean up indoor air.

They include English ivy, waxy leaved plants and ferns.

According to a World Health Organisation report in 2002, harmful indoor pollutants represent a serious health problem that is responsible for more than 1.6 million deaths each year.

Tens of thousands of such plants are available in India too. Hardly any research goes into them however. If research gets done at all, the world outside of those labs does not know it. It's about time we looked at the value of such plants around home to save ourselves. In times when even terraces have become out of bounds for apartment residents, indoor flora becomes the last resort. And for good reason.