BREATHE
easier
Some houseplants are natural air filters
By Melissa Erickson
T
he air in your home may be more
polluted than the air outside, but
some hero houseplants can come to
your rescue.
Indoor air can be two to five times more
polluted than outdoor air, according to
studies from the Environmental Protection
Agency. Indoor air pollution can cause
health issues including dizziness, asthma or
allergies.
Certain houseplants, like spider plants
and bromeliads, can combat the effects
of potentially harmful volatile organic
compounds, or VOCs, that are emitted from
ordinary household products
like paint, carpet, ink,
furniture, printers,
cleaning
supplies or dry-cleaned clothes, said Vadoud
Niri, assistant professor and director of the
graduate program, Department of Chemistry,
State University of New York Oswego.
“My message is that plants do clean the air,
and it is not a myth,” Niri said.
While people are able to notice the presence
of chemicals in the air when they smell
them, others, like VOCs, “are mostly odorless
at low concentrations yet dangerous for our
health. I believe we need to make people
aware of these toxic chemicals and introduce
different ways to remove them from indoor
air,” Niri said.
Plants that clean
Increasing ventilation is a common fix for
indoor air problems, but a simpler and less
costly method is to add houseplants that
use a process called biofiltration to take in
harmful toxins and pollutants.
“In theory, all the
houseplants
should be able to remove certain chemicals
at certain levels,” said Niri, who is now in
the second phase of a study researching the
efficiency and the rate at which different
chemicals are removed by different
houseplants.
In the first phase of the project, researchers
looked at five plants: jade plant, spider
plant, bromeliad, Caribbean tree cactus and
dracaena, in a sealed chamber. All were able
to remove acetone, the active ingredient in
nail polish remover and also used as a paint
thinner. The dracaena plant took up the
most, around 94 percent of the chemical.
Overall the bromeliad was the most
effective at removing VOCs.
“For six out of the eight VOCs studied,
it removed more than 80 percent of the
chemical over a 12-hour period,” Niri said.
The next phase of the project will expand
to include more plants and real-life settings
including nail salons, Niri said.
“While we are working on finding the
efficiency and the rate of removal of different
VOCs by different plants, we recommend
people to use their favorite houseplants in
their houses and offices,” Niri said.
❇
More filters
Almost 30 years ago, NASA conducted a study to
determine the effectiveness of houseplants to help filter
harmful pollutants from indoor air. These were included:
• Golden pathos
• Boston fern
• Spider plant
Bamboo palm
• Bamboo palm
• Dracaena
• Snake plant
• Peace lily
• Lady palm
• English ivy
If you have pets, remember that certain houseplants can be
poisonous to them. For more information, consult the ASPCA
Animal Poison Control’s poisonous plant database: www.aspca.
org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants.
2017 Fall Vermont Home, Garden & Car • 15