Thursday, August 12, 2010

Does the ultrasound in humidifiers harm children's health in the long run

Does the ultrasound in humidifiers harm children's health in the long run?
I bought a ultrasonic humidifier for my baby. Now I'm concerned if the ultrasound enery it emits would have any negative effects on baby's health, even if it might not be noticable now?
Respiratory Diseases - 2 Answers

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1 :
Ultrasonic humidifiers may be a health hazard Nutrition Health Review, Spring, 1989 BOISE: Ultrasonic humidifiers that aerosolize water pose a health hazard if tap water is used in them, since minerals and other materials dissolved in the water may be released as particles small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs. That is the conclusion of researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. V. Ross Highsmith and Charles E. Rodes from the agency's Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and Richard J. Hardy of Morrison-Knudsen Engineers in Boise, Idaho studied the impact on indoor air quality in Boise homes when public tap water was used with several types of humidifiers -- ultrasonic, cool-mist, and steam. Humidifiers are frequently used in winter to alleviate symptoms caused by dry, heated air -- such as chapped lips and irritated throats and noses. Ultrasonic units use electronic transducers to propel water into the air in fine spray; "cool mist" humidifiers use a spinning rotor to drive water through a ring of staggered screens, forcing it into droplets; steam units heat water, causing it to evaporate into the air. Advertisement The researchers found that an ultrasonic humidifier run in a kitchen for only six to eight hours raised the particles concentration of the air to four times the 24-hour outdoor particle level allowable by the EPA (which has no particle standards for indoor air quality). When the ultrasonic humidifier was operated in a closed bedroom, the resulting particle concentration in the air was nearly 50 times the EPA's outdoor standard. Compared with the ultrasonic humidifiers, the cool-mist units generated less than one-third the respirable particle concentration, and a steam unit generated no measureable increase in aerosolized fine particles. The researchers emphasized the potential for ultrasonic humidifiers (and to a lesser extent cool-mist humidifiers) to disperse into the air such harmful waterborne impurities as aluminum, asbestos, and lead. COPYRIGHT 1989 Vegetus Publications COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group 1 - 2 - Next
2 :
The EPA did a study and found it to be safe.

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