 |
|
Indoor air pollution: new EU research reveals higher risks than previously thought
September 23, 2003Do you really know what you are breathing when sitting at home? Europeans spend 90% of their time indoor. But closed environments are not always the healthiest. The latest studies on human exposure to indoor pollution, released today by the European Commission at its Joint Research Centre (JRC) facilities in Ispra (Italy), reveal that indoor environments pose their own threats to health and, in some cases, can be at least twice as polluting as outdoor environments. Hundreds of volatile components have been detected and some of them are toxic, mutagenic or carcinogenic while the number of sources is enormous.
For instance, up to 20% of Europeans suffer from asthma due to substances inhaled indoor. Tobacco smoke, asbestos, radon and benzene released inside buildings are prime suspects in the increase in cancer cases amongst the European population.
The Commission is therefore developing sophisticated analytical methods to provide for a fingerprint of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Measurements are carried out, inter alia, at the EU INDOORTRON "environmental chamber", and through a network of labs across Europe.
According to European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin: "Traffic and smog are of course major causes of pollution, and we are studying and analysing their impact on human health. But unfortunately smoking and chemical substances sometimes follow us even behind closed doors - at home, at the office, in restaurants and bars. Under certain conditions, we can be at risk as well while sitting in our sofa at home, not only while cycling downtown at the rush hour. We are therefore upgrading our indoor pollution monitoring and response capabilities, and we encourage policymakers and public authorities across Europe to address these issues and devise a consistent and effective strategy to solve the problem."
Not safer at home
It is generally believed that buildings shelter us from most unpleasant and unhealthy outdoor conditions or pollutants. We spend, on average, 85-90% of our time indoors at home, in school, at work or during leisure time. However, reductions in ventilation rates to limit energy consumption and extensive use of new building materials are releasing chemical substances with unknown toxic properties.
Today the Joint Research Centre presented an insight into the potential causes of acute symptoms such as allergies, asthma, mucous irritation, headaches and tiredness. It is estimated, for instance, that up to 20% of the population suffers from asthma and other allergic diseases caused by substances typically present in indoor environments. In addition, indoor pollutants such as tobacco smoke, radon, asbestos and benzene may substantially contribute to the increase of cancer incidents in the population.
A breath of fresh air?
Results from measuring campaigns carried out by the Joint Research Centre in European cities clearly indicate that indoor concentrations of dangerous air pollutants (e.g. benzene) are often much higher than they are outdoors.
Recent results indicate, for instance, that schoolchildren are exposed to high concentrations of pollutants (e.g. aromatic compounds), which might be particularly harmful for students with allergies, asthma or airway hyper-reactivity.
In the case of benzene and other aromatic compounds, overall exposure is at least twice that of urban pollution levels. This means that the indoor risk is doubled or even higher than that expected from existing levels of outdoor concentrations. This risk is increasingly associated with serious health problems for European citizens.
Tobacco still the main culprit
Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), derived primarily from side-stream cigarette smoke emitted between puffs, is a major contributor to indoor air pollution wherever smoking occurs. Tests were undertaken to investigate the impact of various ventilation rates in indoor environments on the air concentration of tobacco components (burning products) during smoking at the Joint Research Centre's environmental chamber, INDOORTRON.
Preliminary evidence indicates that changes in ventilation rates during smoking do not have a significant influence on the air concentration of tobacco components. This means, in effect, that efforts to reduce indoor air pollution through higher ventilation rates in buildings and homes would hardly lead to a measurable improvement of indoor air quality.
INDOORTRON Environment Chamber
The 30 cubic metres INDOORTRON laboratory has been built by the Joint Research Centre's site in Ispra, Italy. The INDOORTRON is a walk-in type environmental chamber, allowing for precise control of parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, air quality and exchange rate.
Within its large working space it is possible to:
- measure emissions from equipment;
- determine the release dynamics of materials;
- test models that predict pollutant concentrations;
- evaluate the efficiency of air-cleaning devices;
- carry out exposure measurement and assessment studies.
Experiments conducted in the chamber include:
- source/sink relationships of pollutants;
- measurement of indoor air emissions from photocopy machines;
- testing of construction materials with photo-catalytic properties for the degradation of air pollutants;
- relationships between ventilation rates;
- Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) distribution.
This INDOORTRON facility forms the lynchpin of the Joint Research Centre's strategy towards monitoring Indoor Air Pollution, providing a highly controlled environment where air composition can accurately be measured and adjusted, without any influences from the surrounding atmosphere. This enables researchers to study, under highly controlled environmental conditions, indoor pollution episodes such as interior painting and use of other consumer products that have a potential impact on the health of European citizens.
The INDEX Project
The aim of the Joint Research Center's Index project ("Critical appraisal of the setting and implementation of EU Indoor Exposure Limits") is to create a network of European leading scientists in the area of indoor air pollution and its associated health impacts, in order to identify priorities and assess the need for a EU strategy and action plan.
Key issues
- setting up a list of priority substances to be regulated in Indoor Environments on the basis of health impact criteria;
- providing suggestions and recommendations on potential exposure limits for these substances;
- providing information on links with existing knowledge, ongoing studies, and legislative steps taking place worldwide.
Expected results
- review of exposure and dose response information, plus regulatory actions for selected indoor pollutants worldwide;
- prioritised list of indoor pollutants for regulation;
- risk characterisations for these pollutants;
- proposed exposure limits values or other exposure control regulations for these pollutants;
- assessment of essential research needs for pollutants with high-risk potential, but insufficient information for setting regulatory objectives or selecting regulatory options.
The way ahead
Faced with a clear lack of reliable data at a European level, the Joint Research Centre is taking a leading role in developing new analytical approaches, comparison and harmonisation methods, and conducting monitoring surveys around the Member States to quantify contaminants. This is key to providing sound data as the basis for further exposure assessments to safeguard the health of our citizens.
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Air Pollution Current Events and Air Pollution News RSSPinning down the fleeting Internet: Web crawler archives historical data for easy searching
The Internet contains vast amounts of information, much of it unorganized. But what you see online at any given moment is just a snapshot of the Web as a whole -- many pages change rapidly or disappear completely, and the old data gets lost forever.
Smokers see decline in ability to smell, rise in laryngitis, and upper airway issues
As Americans prepare for a day without cigarettes and tobacco products as part of the American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout (R) (November 20), new research gives them more reasons to extend that break to a lifetime.
Lichens function as indicators of nitrogen pollution in forests
Scientists have found lichens can give insight into nitrogen air pollution effects on Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino mountain ecosystems, and protecting them provides safeguards for less sensitive species.
Pollution, everyday allergens, may be sources of laryngitis
Everyday exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, allergens, and air pollution may be the root of chronic cases of laryngitis, says new research presented at the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in Chicago, IL.
Fuel Emissions From Marine Vessels Remain a Global Concern
Marine vessels are no longer resting in a safe harbor. The forecast for clear skies and smooth sailing for oceanic vessels has been impeded by worldwide concerns of their significant contributions to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that impact the Earth's climate.
Tracking Down the Menace in Mexico City Smog
A new report by scientists who are part of the international MILAGRO Campaign indicates that some of the most harmful air pollution in Mexico City may not come from motor vehicles but instead originates with industrial sources - and that the culprit may be garbage incineration.
Dirty air brings rain -- then again, maybe not
An international team of scientists, headed by Prof. Daniel Rosenfeld of the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has come up with a surprising finding to the disputed issue of whether air pollution increases or decreases rainfall. The conclusion: both can be true, depending on local environmental conditions.
Global survey highlights need for cancer prevention campaigns to correct misbeliefs
Many people hold mistaken beliefs about what causes cancer, tending to inflate the threat from environmental factors that have relatively little impact while minimizing the hazards of behaviours well established as cancer risk factors, according to the first global survey on the topic.
Many U.S. Public Schools in 'Air Pollution Danger Zone'
One in three U.S. public schools are in the "air pollution danger zone," according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC).
Newly detected air pollutant mimics damaging effects of cigarette smoke
A previously unrecognized group of air pollutants could have effects remarkably similar to harmful substances found in tobacco smoke, Louisiana scientists are reporting in a study scheduled for presentation today at the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
More Air Pollution Current Events and Air Pollution News Articles
 | Air Pollution Control (3rd Edition) by C. David Cooper, F. C. Alley Since the First Edition appeared, Air Pollution Control: A Design Approach has become the leading air pollution control text on the strengths of good writing, comprehensive coverage, an emphasis on design, and excellent real-world examples. The Third Edition continues this tradition of excellence, incorporating new and updated information throughout the text while retaining the topical... |
 | Air Pollution Control Engineering by Noel De Nevers This text covers the whole air pollution field, from an engineering perspective. The principal topics are control devices and their theory. The book uses many more examples than other texts to help the student see the magnitudes of important quantities and to show and practice the practical application of theoretical treatments presented. The other half is devoted to topics that form some of the... |
 | Air Pollution Engineering Manual by Air & Waste Management Association The definitive resource for information on air pollution emission sources and the technology available to control them. The Air Pollution Engineering Manual has long been recognized as an important source of information on air pollution control issues for industries affected by the Clean Air Act and regulations in other countries. Thoroughly updated to reflect the latest emission factors... |
 | Air Pollution and Plant Life This standard textbook provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the direct and indirect impacts of air pollution on plant life. Written by an international team of experts, the book covers the main historical aspects and sources of pollutants, atmospheric transport and transformations of pollutants, and issues of global change and the use of science in air pollution policy... |
 | Fundamentals of Air Pollution, Fourth Edition by Daniel Vallero Fundamentals of Air Pollution is an important and widely used textbook in the environmental science and engineering community. Written shortly after the passage of the seminal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the third edition was quite timely. Surprisingly, the text has remained relevant for university professors, engineers, scientists, policy makers and students up to recent years. However,... |
 | Indoor Air Pollution: A Health Perspective (The Johns Hopkins Series in Environmental Toxicology) |
 | Air Pollution Meteorology and Dispersion by S. Pal Arya Air Pollution Meteorology and Dispersion provides a concise yet thorough review of the basic theories, models, experiments, and observations of pollutant dispersal in the atmosphere. It offers the theoretical and empirical bases of frequently used dispersion models while emphasizing the limitations and uncertainties inherent in these models. Organized into twelve chapters, the material is... |
 | Estimating Costs of Air Pollution Control by William M. Vatavuk In these pages is all the information that you-manager, engineer, or other technical professional-would need to select, size, and estimate "budget/study" level capital and annual costs for a variety of air pollution control equipment. This equipment includes wet scrubbers, carbon adsorbers, and other "add-on" devices. This book also deals with such nonstack controls as wet dust suppression... |
 | Air Quality in America: A Dose of Reality on Air Pollution Levels, Trends, and Health Risks by Joel M. Schwartz This book documents how much U.S. air quality has improved in recent decades and gives by far the most accurate picture available of continuing air pollution problems and how to address... |
 | High Temperature Air Combustion: From Energy Conservation to Pollution Reduction (Environmental & Energy Engineering) by Hiroshi Tsuji, Ashwani K. Gupta, Toshiaki Hasegawa, Masashi Katsuki, Ken Kishimoto, Mitsunobu Morita Maximize efficiency and minimize pollution: the breakthrough technology of high temperature air combustion (HiTAC) holds the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional combustion and allow engineers to finally meet this long-standing imperative. Research has shown that HiTAC technology can provide simultaneous reduction of CO2 and nitric oxide emissions and reduce energy consumption... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |