health

It is only recently that indoor air pollution has begun to attract the attention it deserves in Canadian Governmental and Building code circles. Two main events have been catalytic towards this increased emphasis. First, the ban on the use of ur

The use of urea formaldehyde resins in Canadian houses, the mechanism of formaldehyde releases, health effects, toxicity, carginogenicity, allergic reactions and standards for ventilation are discussed.

In response to employee complaints of upper respiratory and eye irritation, formaldehyde air sampling studies were conducted in two different office environments. The first was in a series of temporary modular buildings with construction simi

There are a number of reasons to question whether regulation should be the primary means of dealing with indoor air quality problems. The nature of hypersensitivity to indoor pollutant exposures is such that any practical form of regulation m

The prospective study included two groups, a study group, which had retrofitting of their flats, and a control group not exposed to environmental changes in their homes. The results clearly demonstrated a number of positive effects of the replac

Discusses the symptoms and compaints of the occupants of unhealthy buildings. Compares the availability and sensitivity of building sensors to human sensitivity for the full fange of indoor air contaminants. Refers to the difficulty of assessing pollution using occupant questionnaires. A simple equation for determining contaminant concentration is presented and ventilation standards are discussed.

Sources of radon and the high levels of radon in many locations and building materials in Sweden are considered. Improvements in energy conservation through the reduction of ventilation rate have lead to very high levels of radon over 1000 BqRnD/m3 in some houses. Recommendations on acceptable levels of gamma radiation on building sites and radon concentration in dwellings are given. It is estimated that there are 30-40,000 dwellings over the Swedish recommended limit of 400 BqRnD/m3 requiring modification.

An estimate of the variation of non smokers' lung cancer risk from passive or involuntary smoking is given as a function of ventilation rate in a typical office, at an occupancy of 7 persons/100m2 as specified under ASHRAE standard 62-1981.

There have been considerable efforts to estimate risks to health from the present level of indoor air quality. However, there has been comparatively little work to relate these calculated risks to other risks of energy use or conservation, or to determine how large these risks will be in the future. This paper finds that, on the basis of extrapolated trends, risk associated with changes in indoor air quality in the United States. The other two are associated with the expected change to smaller automobiles and the entire coal fuel cycle, from producing electricity to synthetic fuels.

Although indoor pollution is a greater problem than outdoor pollution, much less research has been devoted to it. Describes the sick building syndrome and an experiment (as distinguished from an opinion poll), comparing a diagnosed sick and a clean modern Swedish preschool. Forty eight previously unexposed subjects were tested in two buildings for two days, and the effect of the exposure was assessed.