Carpet manufacturer Desso has introduced a new type of carpet specially developed to improve the air quality inside buildings. The indoor air quality is often far from ideal, mostly because of the high concentrations of fine dust and particulate matter. This can lead to health problems. The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science already announced an emergency measure in January to improve the indoor air quality at schools.
The new type of carpet, called AirMaster®, is eight times more effective in trapping particulate matter than hard floors and four times more effective than a standard carpet. This was the conclusion of a study conducted by the independent German testing institute GUI*. AirMaster® guarantees a significant improvement of the indoor climate and reduces the risk of health-related problems.
Independent testing
AirMaster® was developed over the past year and has undergone
extensive testing by the independent German testing institute GUI.
The study showed that the patented technology of AirMaster® is
eight times more effective in trapping particulate matter than hard
floors and four times more effective than a standard carpet. This
makes Desso the world's only manufacturer to offer a product
certified with the GUI's golden logo, which means that the carpet
is 80% more effective than hard floors when it comes to trapping
particulate matter.
"The carpet significantly reduces the amount of dust and particulate matter that float around indoors. The World Health Organization** has warned that it is particularly hazardous to inhale particulate matter," according to Desso Chief Commercial Officer Alexander Collot d'Escury. "Miniscule dust particles end up in the lungs, the smallest particles even in the blood stream, and this could have serious consequences for human health." It has also emerged from a study published by the University of Utrecht*** that particulate matter can cause asthma in children.
Emergency measure
A healthy indoor climate is currently high on the political agenda,
as is evident from the announcement of an emergency measure in
January by State Secretary Dijksma (Education, Culture and Science)
to improve the indoor air quality at schools. This came in response
to a study by the Municipal Health Service (GGD) which showed that
the indoor climate at schools is far below standard.
Active policy against poor air quality
A healthy air quality inside buildings is essential, as most people
spend most of the day indoors. In fact, people with a full-time
office job spend 1,880 hours a year on average inside their office.
The German asthma foundation DAAB has for some time been pointing
out that the harmful effects of particulate matter are greatly
reduced if carpeting is chosen as indoor floor covering instead of
hard floor covering. This spring the Dutch asthma foundation
launched the campaign "Polluted air ruins the lungs" to encourage
municipalities to pursue a more active policy against poor air
quality, which is partly due to high concentrations of particulate
matter. According to the asthma foundation, the campaign was
prompted in part by the fact that the Netherlands has for some time
now been violating the European standards for particulate matter
and nitrogen dioxide in particular.
* GUI is an independent German testing institute that
specialises in analysing indoor and outdoor air quality and
conducting studies at the request of parties such as the German
Allergy and Asthma Association (DAAB). GUI carried out a study to
compare AirMaster® with a standard PVC hard floor and a
standard structured loop-pile carpet. The test used particulate
matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10μm (PM10 and
smaller).
** Air quality guidelines - global update 2005, World Health
Organization.
*** Study, conducted by the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences
(IRAS) of the University of Utrecht and investigating the link
between traffic-related air pollution and the development of
asthma, allergies and the associated symptoms in children up to the
age of 8.
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