Lung Health expert features in Toxic Fridge story on 9 News
Prof Gary Anderson from the Department of Biochemistry & Pharmacology in the School of Biomedical Sciences discussed the potential harm that could be caused to humans by a malfunctioning refrigerator.
The family who featured in the news story which aired last night, claim they became sick after breathing in fumes from their refrigerator.
Gary, who leads the Lung Health Research Lab, told Nine News the symptoms the family experienced were consistent with issues that can arise from severe fridge problems.
"There are three possible components. There's the refrigerant - isobutane - the mineral oil used to seal the refrigerant inside and then, as this refrigerator apparently malfunctioned, anything that the refrigerator unit may have produced there was burning or overheating…all of these might generate conditions that might be very irritative and dangerous." Gary said.
Isobutane is used in about 95 per cent of modern refrigerators to create the cooling effect.
“Isobutane was developed to replace older ozone-depleting CFC’s and is generally considered safe but leaks could cause symptoms in some cases, …it can certainly cause brain symptoms, fogginess, and unconsciousness in large amounts," he said in the news report.
In his interview with the Channel Nine news reporter, Gary discussed the potential harmfulness of the alleged exposure and noted it was difficult to know exactly which pollutants the refrigerator had actually released or generated as it was malfunctioning. He also discussed other aspects of indoor air quality and the risks to humans of various indoor pollutants.
“This unusual case underscores the importance of being aware of how poor indoor air quality can adversely affect our health,” he emphasised.
Gary is Chair of the CURE Asthma Research Symposium Executive Steering Committee, and delivered the first CURE Asthma Symposium this year, held at the Bio21 Institute in the Biomedical Precinct.