Keeping a decent level of humidity in your home is always a good idea for
you and your pets.  I have to warn you of the dangers of too much humidity,
50% seems like a great deal of humidity to me.  That is a good environment
for mold to grow especially in the winter months when you have the heat on.
Dust is mainly made up of dead human skin (90% of all dust I think) It's a
good medium when moist for mold to grow, yes the mold is there even if you
keep a clean home and can't see the mold!  Wood products (paper and such
included as well) when moist, grows a dealdy black mold sometimes that isn't
seen.  When this type of mold gets into the air you breath it causes all
kinds of respitory infections and can eventually lead to death, infants and
the elderly are affected by this at a quicker rate moreso than a healthy
person.  I'm not saying that all the elderly are sick, what I am saying is
that they are more prone to infection due to age...yada yada yada... you get
the idea... I did a study on molds for school once.  I'm not a doctor, nor
am I an expert on molds but there are some things you should be clearly
aware of before you think about cranking up the humidity.
 
Friendly warnings, Kathy Smith
[Posted in FML issue 2220]