Healthy environment and quality of life

The specialist’s point of view

Why choose bio-stone rather than a traditional product? What are the benefits in choosing Biopietra products for one’s home or business premises?
These are perfectly legitimate queries and we would respond from a medical standpoint, in the words of Dr. Orlando Schiappa, specialist in Hygiene and Environmental Medicine on the subject of bio-ecological architecture.
"The benefits for those who choose natural processes and materials of vegetable origin, rather than those of (petrochemical) synthesis, are many-sided and all of very great value to human health. First of all, the significant reduction in sources of internal pollution but also considerable energy savings and respect for the external environment. Everything is directed at benefiting the quality of life and human beings’ mental and physical well-being".

Actually, people are often heard talking about internal and external – or indoor and outdoor - pollution in relation to their own houses but public opinion shows little understanding of the causes.

Dr. Schiappa comes to our aid again on this: "Indoor pollution, the one that undermines the ‘health of the house’, is created by substances that emanate from the emission in an enclosed environment (domestic, office or industrial) of fine dust from the use of vacuum cleaners, sprays, steam irons, radiators and stoves and electro-magnetic fields caused by mobile phones and computers. Their effects have both a short and long term impact on human health, with the outbreak of illnesses of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems and psychological disorders. Sources of outdoor pollution, on the other hand, are emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide, the risks from which in relation to the level of exposure are known (monitoring stations), as well as fine dusts. Medicine has been able to expand research in the respiratory and cardiovascular fields considerably thanks to Bio-architecture, identifying pollution as a major cause of the illnesses mentioned".

"The practical advice one can offer to people – explains Dr. Schiappa – addresses, as a priority, the choice of locations rich in natural resources such as water and natural landscape and the use of bio-building materials, such as timber, insulation panels, waterproofing membranes, electrical installations running along the walls, with circuit breakers and radiant wall heaters".

What if the damage is already done? What are the practical remedies to be taken for someone whose house is built of traditional materials and who now wants to make the accommodation healthier?

"If a house has already been built using traditional materials – Dr. Schiappa continues – refurbishment making use of ecologically compatible materials and processes brings equal benefits for the purpose of reducing sources of internal and external pollution and energy consumption, all in aid of a better quality of human life and respect for the environment."

So bio means better. In addition, you can get to know your house better than you might imagine: in order to understand which rooms are most affected by internal pollution, an analysis of the accommodation is carried out by a team of bio-specialists (geologists, architects, engineers, doctors and psychologists) who, according to their area of expertise, identify the areas of the house and the setting in which it is built which are producing polluting substances.
So when we talk of Bio-Architecture, we are also talking about “prevention”, for ourselves and for the world around us.