Indoor air pollution: a public health perspective
- Harvard Univ. School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Although official efforts to control air pollution have traditionally focused on outdoor air, it is now apparent that elevated contaminant concentrations are common inside some private and public buildings. Concerns about potential public health problems due to indoor air pollution are based on evidence that urban residents typically spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors, concentrations on some contaminants are higher indoors than outdoors, and for some pollutants personal exposures are not characterized adequately by outdoor measurements. Among the more important indoor contaminants associated with health or irritation effects are passive tobacco smoke, radon decay products, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, asbestos fibers, microorganisms, and aeroallergens. Efforts to assess health risks associated with indoor air pollution are limited by insufficient information about the number of people exposed, the patttern and severity of exposures, and the health consequences of exposures. An overall strategy should be developed to investigate indoor exposures, health effects, control options, and public policy alternatives.
- OSTI ID:
- 5176472
- Journal Information:
- Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 221:4605
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Indoor air pollution: a public health perspective
Indoor air pollution
Related Subjects
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
HEALTH HAZARDS
ALLERGY
ASBESTOS
CARBON MONOXIDE
FORMALDEHYDE
MICROORGANISMS
NITROGEN DIOXIDE
RADON
TOBACCO SMOKES
AEROSOLS
AIR POLLUTION
ALDEHYDES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
HAZARDS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
POLLUTION
RARE GASES
RESIDUES
SMOKES
SOLS
560306* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology- Man- (-1987)