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Add plants and filter your air!

5 January 2010

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Watching late-night television, we get sucked in with the infomercials. One in particular tells me about purifying my air and how that would help my health.
I am a sucker for filtered anything. We live in a dirty, dirty world and anything to get me away from that filth will make me happier. But I am not a millionaire, I am surviving on a new-to-the-workforce salary.
Well, NASA has given me an answer — buy plants!
NASA, as part of the NASA Clean Air Study, came out with a list of household plants to buy that not only releases oxygen and absorbed carbon dioxide, but can filter the three of the main airborne toxins we breathe in each day. The study found that the plants can eliminate significant amounts of benzene, formaldehyde and/or trichloroethylene, which was tested in the NASA space stations.
The list includes:

1. English Ivy
2. Spider plant
3. Golden pothos or Devil’s ivy
4. Peace lily
5. Chinese evergreen
6. Bamboo palm or reed palm
7. Snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue
8. Heartleaf philodendron
9. Selloum philodendron
10. Elephant ear philodendron
11. Red-edged dracaena
12. Cornstalk dracaena
13. Janet Craig dracaena
14. Warneck dracaena
15. Weeping Fig
16. Gerbera Daisy or Barberton daisy
17. Pot Mum or Florist’s Chrysanthemum
18. Rubber Plant

Look at that list!

The pollutants are found in everyday things, such as ink, paint, adhesives, plywood, grocery bags, plastics and pharmaceuticals.

These plants need to undergo photosynthesis for the filtration to work properly, so keep your plant watered (or follow directions that is recommended for the plant) and keep in a well-lit area.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia Web site, or a short summery of NASA’s original report. To download the PDF of the document, visit this site.