Residents Indoors

Harving H., Dahl R., Korsgaatd J. and Linde S.A. (1992) The indoor environment in dwellings a study of air-exchange, humidity and pollutants in 115 Danish residences. Indoor Air, 2, 121-126. 

Dermal/Ocular Effects. Dermatitis was found by a questionnaire survey to occur in persons living in homes treated with chlordane, with greater frequency than in a reference population (Menconi et al. 1988). The effects, however, cannot be attributed to chlordane alone, because aldrin and heptachlor were included in the analysis for chlordane in the residents indoor air. 

The second example of an air pollutant that affects the total body burden is carbon monoxide (CO). In addihon to CO in ambient air, there are other sources for inhalation. People who smoke have an elevated CO body burden compared to nonsmokers. Individuals indoors may be exposed to elevated levels of CO from incomplete combustion in heating or cooking stoves. CO gas enters the human body by inhalation and is absorbed directly into the bloodstream the total body burden resides in the circulatory system. The human body also produces CO by breakdown of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin breakdown gives every individual a baseline level of CO in the circulatory system. As the result of these factors, the body burden can fluctuate over a time scale of hours. 

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. 

Radon gas is formed in the process of radioactive decay of uranium. The distribution of naturally occurring radon follows the distribution of uranium in geological formations. Elevated levels have been observed in certain granite-type minerals. Residences built in these areas have the potential for elevated indoor concentrations of radon from radon gas entering through cracks and crevices and from outgassing from well water. 

Limited to residents in BRA s weatherization program Adopted OSHA standards Indoor air exposures considered in determining drinking water levels Restricts use and sales of pesticides which may cause indoor air pollution Bans on use of some potential indoor pollutants in consumer products Restricts smoking in specified indoor environments Restricts use of asl estos in VA buildings... 

Associations between urinary 4-nitrophenol and indoor residential air and surface-wipe concentrations of methyl parathion have been studied in 142 residents of 64 contaminated homes in Uorain, Ohio (Esteban et al. 1996). The homes were contaminated through illegal spraying. A mathematic model was developed to evaluate the association between residential contamination and urinary 4-nitrophenol. There were significant positive correlations between air concentration and urinary 4-nitrophenol, and between maximum surface-wipe concentrations and urinary 4-nitrophenol. The final model includes the following variables number of days between spraying and sample collection, air and maximum surface wipe concentration, and age, and could be used to predict urinary 4-nitrophenol. 

Trichloroethylene levels monitored in expired breath of 190 New Jersey residents were correlated with personal exposure levels, which were consistently higher than outdoor air levels and were instead attributed to indoor air levels (Wallace et al. 1985). Other studies have expanded upon and confirmed these findings, concluding that indoor air is a more significant exposure source of trichloroethylene than outdoor air, even near major point sources such as chemical plants (Wallace 1986 Wallace et al. 1986a, 1986b, 1986c,... 

Wallace LA. 1986. Personal exposures, indoor and outdoor air concentrations and exhaled breath concentrations of selected volatile organic compounds measured for 600 residents of New Jersey, North Dakota, North Carolina, and California. Toxicol Environ Chem 12 215-236. 

An appropriate emergency procedure would be to alert residents to stay indoors with the windows closed and ventilation off until the cloud passes. An effort by the plant to reduce the quantity of chlorine released is also indicated. 

Measurements of actual house dust in sampled residences where people use lawn chemicals is more disturbing. Even if the immediate exposure to these chemicals-now clinging to boots, shirtsleeves, and socks-did not prove a risk, the chemicals that hitchhike with us indoors have a more complex fate. Now released from clothing and accumulating in the home, chemicals with purportedly short half-lives begin to become more persistent. By settling in house dust, and therefore on carpets, the highest level of exposure falls on those close to the floor, which includes pets, but more importantly, toddlers, infants, and small children, who are disproportionately sensitive to the possible effects of these chemicals. ... 

Indoor NDMA pollution of air from the burning of tobacco has been investigated (43). Typical NDMA concentrations were 240 ng/m3 in a New York bar, 130 ng/m3 in the club car of a commuter train, 90 ng/m3 in a sports hall and a discotheque and non-detectable in a private residence. 

The US-EPA Exposure Factors Handbook (US-EPA 1997), first published in 1989, provides a summary of the available data on consumption of drinking water consumption of fmits, vegetables, beef, dairy products, and fish soil ingestion inhalation rates skin surface area soil adherence lifetime activity patterns body weight consumer product use and the reference residence (data that are available on residence characteristics that affect exposure in an indoor environment). 

A number of studies have documented that concentrations of some of the directly emitted species found in outdoor atmospheres can be quite high indoors if there are emission sources present such as combustion heaters, gas stoves, or tobacco smoke. In addition, there is evidence for chemistry analogous to that occurring outdoors taking place in indoor air environments, with modifications for different light intensities and wavelength distributions, shorter residence times, and different relative concentrations of reactants. In Chapter 15, we briefly summarize what is known about the chemical composition and chemistry of indoor atmospheres. 

Mumford, J. L., C. T. Helmes, X. Lee, J. Seidenberg, and S. Nesnow, Mouse Skin Tumorigenicity Studies of Indoor Coal and Wood Combustion Emissions from Homes of Residents in Xuan Wei, China with High Lung Cancer Mortality, Carcinogenesis, 11, 397-403 (1990). 

Most recently, non-occupational exposure to diazinon among residents of two U.S. cities (Jacksonville, Florida, and Springfield, Massachusetts) was studied over three seasons summer 1986, spring 1987, and winter 1988 (Whitmore et al. 1994). The study focused primarily on inhalation exposures with primary environmental monitoring consisting of 24-hour indoor and outdoor air. For the Jacksonville, Florida, population, the estimated mean diazinon concentrations ranged from 85.7 to 420.7 ng/m3 in indoor air and... 

Dichloromethane has been detected in ambient air samples taken around the world, with background levels usually at about 0.17 pg/m. Concentrations in urban areas and in the vicinity of hazardous waste sites may be one to two orders of magnitude higher (up to 43 pg/m3). Even higher levels (mean, 670 pg/m C peak level, 5000 pg/m ) have been found in the indoor air of residences (WHO, 1996). 

Fig 1 Ports of entry for radon gas into average residence, (National Indoor Environmental Institute, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania)... 

Hanninen OO, Lebret E, Ilacqua V, Katsouyanni K, Kiinzli N, Sram RJ, Jantunen MJ (2004) Infiltration of ambient PM25 and levels of indoor generated non-ETS PM2.5 in residences of four European cities. Atmos Environ 38(37) 6411-6423... 

Ni, Y., Kumgai, K., Yoshino, H. and Yanagisawa, Y. (2005) A pilot study on VOCs and carbonyl compounds in Chinese residences overall results of 8 dties. Proceedings of Indoor Air 2005, September, 4-9, Beijing, China, pp. 567-71. 

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