Mind what you are breathing

An odour is an olfactory sense experiencing a cocktail  of  compounds  of  
chemical  and/or biological origin. In response to odours, we often tend to
cover our nose and mouth filtering as well as ad/bsorbing the gases as well as
the suspended bioaerosols on our kerchief.  This is almost a reflex action
when passing near a garbage heap or a dumping  site.  Seldom  do  we  think  
of  doing  the same  in  a  mall,  restaurant,  cinema  hall, supermarket or
at least in a place  of worship. A study carried  out over three seasons,  
keeping in view the significance and the geographical location of a very well
known place of worship in Mumbai underlines  the  need to  improvise  the
environmental conditions in such places. The sick building syndrome usually
associated with workplaces may now be extrapolated to places of worship,
indicating need for remedial measures to remove or neutralize the bioaerosols
load and truly maintain the sanctity of our places of worship.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Varsha Kelkar-Mane obtained M.Sc. In Biochemistry from Institute of
Science and Ph.D. from Mumbai University.  She has been Research Fellow at
NEERI and a DBT Project Fellow.   At present she is an Assistant Professor in
the University of Mumbai, Department of Biotechnology.