Space scientists, who are sending people aloft, are faced with the problem of purifying the air and the water in the space ship. In regard to the air, the building materials often gas off toxic pollutants and people themselves give off chemicals, such as carbon dioxide, which need to be reduced. The scientists have found that plants are wonderfully helpful—not only do they absorb our carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, which we must have to live, but also they can absorb toxic pollutants, such as: formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, ammonia, trichloroethylene, etc. The plants take in vapors through the stoma in their leaves, translocate the chemicals to their roots and into the soil, where microbes can break down the toxins.

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The scientists have found that plants are wonderfully helpful—not only do they absorb our carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, which we must have to live, but also they can absorb toxic pollutants, such as: formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, ammonia, trichloroethylene, etc.

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*HOW TO GROW FRESH AIR: 50 House plants that Purify Your Home or Office by Dr. B. C. Wolverton, Penguin Books, 1997.