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 industria] workplaces) as refuges from pollutants found in ambient air and elsewhere in the outdoor environment, this view may often be unwarranted. A wide variety of activities that people routinely perform in their homes, schools, offices, and other indoor environments can make their own particular, and often substantial, contributions to overall pollutant exposures and to the health risks that they represent. A few of the ordinary activities that can contribute to exposures include cooking; doing crafts and hobbies; interior painting and other building renovation activities; cleaning and polishing metal, wood, and other indoor surfaces; furniture refinishing, especially using solvents for stripping paints and varnishes; using carbonless copy paper; using computers, printers, and other electronic office equipment; using air fresheners and bathroom deodorizers; and operating humidifiers. The healthfulness of the indoor environment is also often adversely affected by a failure to follow practices important in maintaining a healthy indoor environment. These include (1) good housekeeping practices to maintain cleanliness and discourage proliferation of cockroaches and their allergy producing products; (2) controlling indoor humidity and taking other measures to discourage growth of dust mites and reduce exposures to dust mite allergens; (3) proper operation and maintenance of heating, air-conditioning, and ventilation systems; (4) avoiding use of gas stoves and unvented combustion appliances to warm indoor spaces in cold weather; (5) care in the use and storage of paints, pesticides, cleaning agents and other toxic chemical substances; and (6) preventive maintenance aimed at protecting the integrity of the building’s external shell of roof, windows and exterior walls and preventing the infiltration and intrusion of moisture that could encourage the growth of molds. Maintenance, preventive and routine, is especially important in commercial and institutional buildings, with their high occupant densities and large and complex ventilation systems. Investigations by NIOSH of problem buildings show that inadequate ventilation and dirt or moisture in ventilation systems are associated with increases in occupant symptoms. ‘Dust mites thrive in environments with high humidity. They and the allergens they produce also collect in carpets, upholstery, bedding, and other soft surfaces where they are more difficult to control than on smooth, hard surfaces, such as tile or hardwood floors. Effective reduction of exposures of sensitive individuals to dust mite allergens may also require such additional measures as frequent washing of bed linens in water of at least 130 degrees (hotter than that provided by typical domestic hot water systems) and encasing mattresses and pillows in covers impermeable to dust mites.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3223059x_0036.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
