Non-toxic air cleaning houseplants?

[Celestial]

In article <9857c0c8.0208241124.735516da at posting.google.com>, 
jacquelinejunk at hotmail.com says...
> Hi, we just moved into a new condo, and something is wrong with the
> air in here.  My husband and I are both getting congested, with
> itchy/burning eyes and nose.  We've had the windows open a lot, but as
> they are building a new grocery store across the street from our
> window, its very noisy to have them open during the day, so that
> limits how many hours we can have them open.  We have had them open at
> least a few hours every day and after a week whatever it is that is
> bothering us still hasn't been flushed out.
> 
> It could be the stain treatment on the new furniture and mattress (I
> can smell chemicals on the new furniture), it could be the new paint,
> it could be something done to the carpets, it could be the residues of
> the cleaning products used by the previous owners, I don't know.  But
> its bothering us a lot, I wake up every morning feeling sick. :(
> 
> We'd like to get some house plants that meet the following criteria:
> 1) Non-toxic to our cats (who will, given their previous behavior,
> most certainly chew on them)
> 2) Good air cleaners, we'd like to get a variety of plants that clean
> a variety of things out, as we don't know what exactly the problem is
> 3) Hard to kill (we are not good at keeping delicate house plants
> alive)
> 
> Can anyone advise us as to which types of house plants we should look
> into?  I know about spider plants, what else?
> 
> Also, any advice on how to keep the cats from molesting them?  We're
> thinking we're either going to have to hang them from the ceiling or
> build plant boxes too high for them to reach.  When we had plants
> before the cats would knock them over and knock dirt everywhere EVERY
> SINGLE DAY!  That's one of the main reasons we got rid of our old
> plants.
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help.
> 
> Jacqueline
> 
Normally I'd reccommend something like one of those scented plug in's 
that go in a spare power socket, but I'm not sure that they will be 
powerful enough - worth a try though.

I'd go for leaving the windows open for as long as possible to see if the 
smell leaves by itself.

--
Celestial