News about the SARS epidemic and bird influenza has increased the interest in Lifa Air throughout the world. The filter-producer's flow-resistant filter protects human beings from minute bacteria and viruses as well as from nerve gases.

The equipment in question is the world's first filtering system that protects human beings. "We have become accustomed to protecting machines and equipment, but now we offer a solution that has direct effects on the health of human beings," says Vesa Mäkipää, the CEO of Lifa Air Oy Ltd.

Fitted in every room, the filter has been developed in cooperation with experts at the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). The filter is flow-resistant, because it can collect dangerous gaseous impurities and natural causes of diseases.

Worldwide success is expected for the third-generation filter. Demand has been increased recently by the fear of terrorist strikes using biological warfare agents through the ventilation system. "Our expectations are huge, but demanding," Mäkipää states.

Right where there are many people

The filter is cheap and energy-conserving, and it is suited to modern ventilation systems. Its uses are numerous. Filters are needed in all major cities where industry, energy production and transport cause emissions that are difficult to control.

If the choice were up to Mäkipää, filters would be placed where there are many people present such as international airports, stations, cruise ships and hospitals, as well as in schools and day-care centres. As it is fitted in every room, the filter prevents penetration by impurities that have possibly been latent in the incoming-air duct and collected there for decades.

"We delivered a filter and disinfected the ventilation duct in a Chinese hospital where SARS patients were treated. Negotiations are taking place at present at many levels for civil use and military purposes," says Mäkipää.

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Clean indoor air is one of the WHO's basic rights for a human being.