COUGH is designed to draw together interested parents, teachers and citizens in helping to remove un-flued gas heating (UGH) from public schools in New South Wales. The Department of Education and Training (NSW) has a heating policy that mandates the use of UGH. These heaters appear benign, (particularly if you were a student who grew up with them), but they produce gas by-products that are harmful to health and have been banned in most of the western democratic world. The reason they are banned is because the gas by-products (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide) affect the respiratory systems of humans, especially children. By seeking a safer heating system COUGH aims to improve the learning and working environments of public school children and public school teachers throughout New South Wales.

Essential Background information

Gases

Scientific Reports

Public Talks Given By COUGH Representatives

Essential Background information

• Scientific reports on un-flued gas heating

• The flawed DET directive

• The problem of exhaust fans

• Warning statements from gas suppliers and others.

Gases

Carbon monoxide: binds with haemoglobin to reduce the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity. At high concentrations this can be fatal; at lower concentrations symptoms include headache or loss of concentration.

Nitrogen dioxide: an oxidising gas that irritates the lungs. There is evidence that it suppresses the body's immune system. At very high levels, nitrogen dioxide can cause fatal swelling of the lungs. At lower levels, symptoms include exacerbated asthma and more frequent and more severe respiratory illness. Australian epidemiological research confirms overseas findings that there is a significant correlation between exposure to nitrogen dioxide and adverse health outcomes, including increased hospital admissions for sufferers of childhood asthma and heart disease.

Carbon dioxide: at elevated levels can cause headaches and may cause changes in respiratory patterns.

Formaldehyde: an irritant gas that potentially affects the skin, eyes and lungs. Some people can become hypersensitive to its effects, resulting in symptoms at very low concentrations. There is evidence that it is a nasal carcinogen.

(Source: Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies Occasional Paper Series Number 5, October 2002, Indoor Air Quality in Australia: a Strategy for Action, pp 9-28.)

Scientific Reports

• Pilotto et al Randomized controlled trial of un-flued gas heater replacement on respiratory health of asthmatic schoolchildren.

• National Heritage Trust - Unflued Gas Appliances and Air Quality in Australian Homes

• Brown et al Room chamber assessment of the pollutant emission properties of (nominally) low-emission unflued gas heaters.
  

Public Talks Given By COUGH Representatives

The following locations and dates are where COUGH representatives have spoken, or will speak, to members of school communities and the public about the dangers of un-flued gas heating in public schools in New South Wales.

Any school, or other organisation, wanting speakers for their P&C (or public
meetings) should contact COUGH at info@cough.org.au with relevant contact details and suggested locations, dates and times.

Thank your for your support,
COUGH