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Scented products cause indoor air pollution on par with car exhaust

(newatlas.com)
371 points clumsysmurf | 2 comments | 19 Feb 25 23:53 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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shellfishgene ◴[20 Feb 25 10:20 UTC] No.43113076[source]▶
"A forest is a pristine environment..." Hmm, is that really so? The forest air is also full of pollen, fungal spores, viruses and bacteria, all kinds of volatile organic molecules and so on. The terpenes mentioned as problematic come from conifers after all.
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amluto ◴[20 Feb 25 15:16 UTC] No.43115699[source]▶
Not just conifers. In Los Angeles, liquidambar trees are planted all over for autumn color, and it turns out that they’re an enormous contributor to smog formation.
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hinkley ◴[20 Feb 25 16:25 UTC] No.43116655[source]▶
And male trees upping pm because they’re lonely and looking for love.
replies(1): >>43117290 #
1. amluto ◴[20 Feb 25 17:08 UTC] No.43117290[source]▶
To be fair, those are large particles, which are neither as dangerous nor as persistent as smaller particles. Unless you’re allergic to them, of course.
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2. hinkley ◴[20 Feb 25 19:15 UTC] No.43118846[source]▶
PM2.5 is the really nasty carcinogenic stuff, but pollen size overlaps substantially with other forms of soot and IIRC is a double digit percentage of poor urban air quality. It’s somewhere around fourth or fifth largest source.