Indoor pollution : status of federal research activities : report to the Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives / United States General Accounting Office.
- United States. General Accounting Office
- Date:
- [1999]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Indoor pollution : status of federal research activities : report to the Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives / United States General Accounting Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Chapter 2 The Emergence of Indoor Pollution as a Public Health Concern and a Focus of Research substances persist in the indoor environment far longer than they would outdoors and thus prolong the period of exposure. Pesticides and herbicides that breakdown or otherwise dissipate within days outdoors, through the action of sunlight, bacteria, and weather, can persist for years in indoor carpeting where they are protected from such degradation. This has been shown by indoor measurements of the pesticide ppT (dichloro-diphenyl]-dichloro-ethane), which was banned in the United States in 1972 because of its toxicity and environmental effects. Researchers examining indoor contaminants in Midwestern houses in 1992 and 1993 found that 90 of the 362 houses they examined had traces of DDT in their carpets. This research also demonstrated, as have other studies, that carpeting is an effective reservoir for contaminants other than pesticides. For example, the researchers found that concentrations of seven toxic organic chemicals that are produced by incomplete combustion, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), were present in older carpets at levels above those that would trigger a formal risk assessment for soil on residential properties near a hazardous waste site.!° These chemicals have been proven to cause cancer in animals and are suspected of being capable of causing cancer in humans. Indoor exposures to microbiologic organisms (e.g., fungi, bacteria, and viruses) or their products are related to a variety of health problems, including Legionnaire’s disease and asthma, and probably also to allergies, nonspecific symptoms, and communicable respiratory infections. Less is known about the measurement of these exposures, however, than is known about the measurement of indoor toxic chemical exposures. Although the foregoing examples are merely suggestive of the types of pollutant hazards commonly found in the indoor environment, they illustrate why EPA, its Science Advisory Board, the Presidential and Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management, and others have assigned indoor environmental pollution a relatively high environmental risk ranking. While people tend to view their homes, offices, and most other indoor environments (with the exception of 0A dvantages of carpets include the fact that they can serve as effective noise dampers and covers for wood and other floors in poor condition. They also provide better traction than bare floors, which can be slippery when wet. Additionally, while carpets take more time to keep clean, if they are kept very clean, they may remove more pollution from the indoor air than they add. However, carpets tend to collect deep dust as they age, even if they receive regular cleaning. Moreover, wetted carpets serve as an effective cultivation medium for molds, bacteria, and dust mites.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3223059x_0035.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
