Five ways to reduce your exposure to air pollution and improve your health

"Moving to more natural products and using creams rather than aerosols can make the difference, while properly ventilating your home. So open your windows when you buy new furniture, "she says.

BWhat happens if you live near a busy road? It is feared that the pollution of the outside air will seep into the house.

Jonathan Grigg, a professor of respiratory and environmental medicine in pediatrics at Queen Mary's University in London, says it is essential to have a good extractor fan in the kitchen.

The RCP, along with the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, is mapping all indoor air pollution sources and will release a report on the subject next year.

Professor Grigg directs the work.

"We are looking to see what evidence exists and are trying to produce a hierarchy of air pollution," he said, adding that evidence of indoor pollution was currently insufficient.