Industrial pollution is the source: Although grassland areas are diminishing and pollen counts are falling, the incidence of allergies and hay fever is soaring. In England, a 59% increase in hay fever was reported among 12 year old children between the years 1973 to 1988. Researchers now attribute the rise in airborne allergies to increased amounts of particles from household and industrial pollution. We can protect our children by combating industrial pollution. This is a fixable dilemma, and will resolve when big business is made to take responsibility. This is especially important because Kansas City has been ranked first in the U.S. for airborne allergies.

How your nose handles the job: We inhale approximately 17,000 pints of air a day and all of it must be filtered before entering the lungs. Sticky nasal mucous traps particles, and little hairs beat in rhythm to sweep them to the back of the throat where they are swallowed. This sweeping cleanses the nasal passages about every 15 minutes. Unfortunately, this nasal air filtration system gets overwhelmed by modern civilization. An average cubic meter of air in large cities will have as much as 100-300 or more micrograms of invisible particles under 10 microns in size. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says about 50 micrograms of particles less than 120 microns is the upper limit for human health. That is VERY bad news.

Our nasal cell produce about a teaspoon of mucous every 5 minutes, and as this mucous traps particles, they are swept to the back of the throat to be swallowed. Anything that slow or stops this sweeping action is likely to result in nasal symptoms or infection. Two particular culprits that can slow down and even paralyze the sweeping action of the nasal hairs are cigarette smoke and benzalkonium chloride. Amazingly, benzalkonium chloride is used in nasal sprays. In cases of sinus inflammation the nasal hairs don’t sweep properly, the hair cells are decreased in number, and there is less mucous production. So, the worse it gets the worse it gets.

It’s deadly: The size of the particles determines how far they will penetrate into the respiratory tract. According to the EPA, particles equal to or less than 10 microns (10 microns is about 1/17 the diameter of a human hair) can get into the lungs and cause serious health problems. Particles larger than 10 microns are usually trapped in nasal mucous. Children and the elderly are at the greatest risk when exposed to these elevated counts. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, polluted air kills 60,000 Americans each year. Only in the last decade have we come to understand the role inflammation plays in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and all the diseases of inflammation, the “itis” diseases, that plague the industrialized world. Science can now demonstrate how small inhaled airborne particles raise our levels of inflammation; therefore, air pollution is contributing to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.

Solutions: There are 3 approaches to reducing the burden of airborne particles; first, air filtration; second, nasal irrigation; third, air filtration within the nasal passages.

1. Room air purifiers help. While indoor particle counts are about half that are experienced outdoors, the particles differ. Often, the nature of these indoor particles, which include pet dander, dust mites, household chemicals, etc. are more sensitizing that those encountered outdoors. Unfortunately, the published scientific literature suggests that room air purifiers offer only minimum relief for sufferers. Nevertheless, every little bit helps.
2. Nasal irrigation can be very helpful, but requires repeated application. Often nasal washes and sprays contain benzalkonium chloride as a preservative or or phenylephrine as a decongestant, which defeats the purpose. If you choose this method of relief, beware of products containing these detrimental chemicals.
3. Intra-nasal air filtration may prove to be the best answer until we pressure big business to clean up their act. Only recently has successful technology been developed which uses a natural, nontoxic, cellulose powder which immediately becomes a sticky gel upon entrance into the nasal passages to mimic the natural particle trapping qualities of nasal mucous. This simple technology, marketed as Sneeze-eze, has been shown in a controlled study to dramatically reduce allergy symptoms and the need for medication.

Summary: It is likely that human populations living in industrialize nations will need to habitually instill methylcellulose powder into their nasal passages on a daily basis to aid the nasal-mucous system in trapping foreign particles before they enter the lungs or trigger chronic symptoms. This, given the present technology, should provide the approach most likely to yield the greatest relief from airborne particulate disease and would work remarkably well in conjunction with NAET treatments. Sneeze-eze can be the missing link that provides symptomatic relief that is natural and virtually side effect free that allows your family to clear airborne seasonal allergies easily and effectively. To order, or obtain additional information, go to www.sneezeeze.com.

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