Health issues indoors

Most of this chapter is taken from the Chapter 12 (Construction Materials and Health Issues Indoors) written by Guneri Akovali, in the book Polymers in Construction , Ed., G. Akovali, Rapra Technology, Shawbury, Shropshire, UK, 2005. 

Disabilities. Publishes The Delicate Balance, a quarterly newsletter with a focus on indoor air quality, chemical sensitivities and related environmental and public health issues. Membership 15 individual, 10 limited income, 20 family, 25 business/professional. 

This site contains information on indoor air and related health issues. 

There has been a growing interest in health issues relating to the use of plastic construction materials, for some time, and especially on their effect on indoor atmospheres, causing the so called sick building syndrome . PVC is the one plastic that has been most critisised. Some general issues regarding health problems are discussed in Chapter 12. 

Some Possible Health Issues Related to Polymeric Construction Materials and on Indoors Atmosphere... 

Possible Health Issues Related to Plastics Construction Materials and Indoor Atmosphere Poly (methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and Acrylics... 

There is currently no specific OSHA standard for mold. However, indoor air quality (lAQ) hazards are addressed in specific standards, such as the 1910.94 ventilation standard. Poor lAQ is one of the most important health issues we face. 

Business Council on Indoor Air, Indoor Air Quality A Pubhc Health Issue in the 1990s How Will It Affect Your Company , undated brochure, received on April ii, 1996, and Building Systems Approach. ... 

In developing countries, priorities have often been different. Industrialization, water and food supply and sanitation, infrastructure improvements, and basic health care are often the focus of the leaders of a country. In some areas, the availability of a job is much more problematic than some consideration about the quality of the air in the workplace or the home. Many dwellings in developing countries do not have closable windows and doors, so the outdoor and indoor air quality issues are different. In some houses where cooking is done by firewood or charcoal, the air quality outdoors may be considerably better than that inside the smoky residence. 

Nero, A.V., Indoor Radiation Exposures from 222Rn and its Daughters A view of the Issue, Health Physics, 45 273-288 (1983). 

Chemical contamination in the atmosphere is important for different reasons at several distinctly different scales on the indoor and local scales, the major concern is that of human health. On regional scales, as pollutants threaten forests, lakes, and agriculture, the health of natural ecosystems is the major issue. On the global scale, maintenance of a viable planetary environment is of the utmost importance and must be treated in an international context. 

---