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Title: The Los Angeles TEAM Study: personal exposures, indoor-outdoor air concentrations, and breath concentrations of 25 volatile organic compounds

Journal Article · · Journal of Esposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology; (United States)
OSTI ID:7251515

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board studied the exposures of 51 residents of Los Angeles, California, to 25 volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) in air and drinking water in 1987. A major goal of the study was to measure personal, indoor, and outdoor air concentrations, and breath concentrations of VOCs in persons living in households that had previously been measured in 1984. Other goals were to confirm the marked day-night and seasonal differences observed in 1984; to determine room-to-room variability within homes; to determine source emission rates by measuring air exchange rates in each home; and to extend the coverage of chemicals by employing additional sampling and analysis methods. The results confirmed previous TEAM Study findings of higher personal and indoor air concentrations than outdoor concentrations of all prevalent chemicals; higher personal, indoor, and outdoor air concentrations in winter than in summer; and (in winter only) higher outdoor concentrations at night than in the daytime. New findings included the following: (1) room-to-room variability of 12-hour average concentrations was very small, indicating that a single monitor may be adequate for estimating indoor concentrations over this time span; (2) whole-house' source emission rates were relatively constant during both seasons, with higher rates for odorous chemicals such as p-dichlorobenzene and limonene than for other classes of chemicals; (3) breath concentrations measured during morning and evening were similar for most participants, suggesting the suitability of breath measurements for estimating exposure in the home; (4) limited data obtained on two additional chemicals-toluene and methylene chloride-indicated that both were prevalent at fairly high concentrations and that indoor air concentrations exceeded outdoor concentrations by a factor of about three.

OSTI ID:
7251515
Journal Information:
Journal of Esposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology; (United States), Vol. 1:2; ISSN 1053-4245
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English