SCIENTIST have been modifying house plants will be enable them to clean the hazardous particles in the air of your home.
Air filters to not clean smaller particles such as chloroform and benzene, which have both been linked to cancer.
A team at University of Washington has been modifying Pothos ivy was edited in the laboratory to see if can remove these molecules in the air and use them as food to grow.
The plants were places in single glass tubes which were filled with polluted air, the concentrations of pollution dropped significantly over the next few days, being almost undetectable.
Study senior author Professor Stuart Strand said:
“People haven’t really been talking about these hazardous organic compounds in homes, and I think that’s because we couldn’t do anything about them…
Now we’ve engineered houseplants to remove these pollutants for us.”
There are simple thing you can do to clean the air pollution in your home:
- Opening your windows for a short period time daily to clean the air
- Reduce the risk of damp and mould in your bathroom and kitchen to stop hazardous particle growing
- If you have a fire place/burner to have it regularly cleaned
- stabilizing your home temperature this will reduce the risk of moister and mould growth.