Our mission:

To reduce the impact of asthma across New England, through collaborations of health, housing, education, and environmental organizations with particular focus on the contribution of schools, homes, and communities to the disease and with attention to its disproportionate impact on populations at greatest risk.


Home Hazards

There are a number of housing-related environmental hazards, such as poor indoor air quality, asthma triggers, lead paint, hazardous household chemicals, drinking water, pest infestation, physical injury risk and fire. Depending on the inhabitants of the home, some hazards may be more of a concern than others. For example, a home with young children may be more concerned with removing lead paint, installing window guards and properly storing household products and medications stored out of reach of children, whereas a home with elderly inhabitants may focus on preventing falls and injuries. 

In this section we provide a brief introduction to many of these hazards and point you to more extensive resources. We start with home assessment tools and general tips, and then cover more specific hazards. You will see that while the list of hazards are extensive, many have similar root causes and all can be addressed through adherence to the Seven Healthy Homes Principles.

We also direct you to advocacy resources where they are available, such as public service announcements for carbon monoxide poisoning prevention; or specific campaigns that cab be promoted by community organizations such as "January is Radon Awareness Month."

Home Hazards


News
Oct 26, 2011

On October 12, 2011 ARC and close to 50 co-signers submitted testimony requesting that the Institute of Medicine examine and address the non-clinical best practice components of comprehensive asthma management as part of Community Based

Non-Clinical Prevention Policies and Wellness Strategies.

Oct 26, 2011

Over 50 organizations and individuals joined ARC and Health Resources in Action in expressing to New England U.S. Senator4s our extreme concern about the proposed complete elimination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program by the Senate Appropriations Committee in the proposed FY12 spending bill for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.

Apr 11, 2011
More than 400 organizations and advocates joined ARC and its partners in sending a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, expressing deep concerns over budget cuts to environmental health programs.