This paper presents some of the issues that remain to be resolved in order to assess the risk of cancer related to exposure to organic particulates. Most reviews of the effects of organic particulates from the outdoor environment on the risk of lung cancer show that this source seems to play a minor role. However, as fuel use and chemical composition of air pollutants change, the contribution o...

This field study evaluated the ability of a multi-sorbent sampling tube/thermal desorption technique to identify and to provide quantitative data on volatile organic contaminants in indoor air. Air samples, from 12 Canadian homes, were collected on multilayer sorbent cartridges and analyzed using Adsorption/Thermal Desorption coupled with Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry. The study included...

Building occupants, including cleaning personnel, are exposed to a wide variety of airborne chemicals when cleaning agents and air fresheners are used in buildings. Certain of these chemicals are listed by the state of California as toxic air contaminants (TACs) and a subset of these are regulated by the US federal government as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). California’s Proposition 65 list ...

In tropical countries such as Brazil, there is not enough information about microbial contaminants in indoor environments with air conditioning systems. Microbial monitoring of such environments is important for the quality of human life. The aim of this work was to assess the fungal genera and bacterial morphotypes occurring in such environments. Air samples were taken indoors and outdoors fro...

Increasingly, policymakers in Europe and around the world are realizing the importance of healthy indoor environments for public health. Certain member states of the European Union (EU) have already achieved successes in improving indoor environmental quality, such as controlling certain contaminants (e.g., environmental tobacco smoke) or developing nationwide policies that address indoor air g...

Exposures to cabin environmental contaminants were measured on 36 commercial transport aircraft. The objectives were to characterize levels of contaminants and evaluate the relationship between flight factors such as aircraft size, occupancy, ventilation, and flight length, and environmental parameters. Monitoring was conducted at two coach locations for the duration of the flight for VOCs, nit...

Introduction: Although epidemiological studies have reported an association between smoking and increases in tuberculosis the , relationship between indoor air pollution and risk of tuberculosis is not fully understood. A limited number of studies have suggested that smoking and indoor air pollution may play a role in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis. In this study, we investigated the effect o...

UNLABELLED Indoor air pollutants are a potential cause of building related symptoms and can be reduced by increasing ventilation rates. Indoor carbon dioxide (CO(2)) concentration is an approximate surrogate for concentrations of occupant-generated pollutants and for ventilation rate per occupant. Using the US EPA 100 office-building BASE Study dataset, we conducted multivariate logistic regres...

Indoor air quality is recognized as one of the most important environmental concerns, since people spend almost 90% of their lifetime indoors. Indoor sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a determinant of air quality in houses. Many materials used to construct and finish the interiors of new houses emit VOCs. These emissions are a probable cause of acute health effects and discomfort...