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Last Update: 01/31/00

Indoor Air Pollution

INTRODUCTION

Previously there have been numerous reports of an illness commonly called "sick building syndrome" associated with a variety of offices, schools and other public access buildings. Many outbreaks of illness have been attributed to some aspect of internal building environment, the building fabric or building tightness and lack of sufficient ventilation. Building related health problems may be due to the contamination of indoor air by emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) from building fabrics and furnishings, equipment, maintenance supplies (including paints, stains, adhesives, and caulks, containing petroleum-based solvents), cross contamination, bioeffluents and combustion by-products. In addition, it has been suggested that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in occupational environments should be limited due to the potential health problems associated with these pollutants. Because many of these compounds are toxic, knowledge of the levels of such materials in the indoor environment is required in order to determine human health impacts and methodology needs to be developed in order to detect, positively identify, and quantitate the VOC's in air.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) recently participated in Congressional meeting on issues effecting indoor air pollution. This year, Congress has taken an active interest in indoor air pollution. Politicians have become aware that chemical contamination from construction and common household products may be creating health concerns. Bills in the House (H.R. 1066) and the Senate (S. 455) will involve the Environmental Protection Agency in research projects to study the sources and effects of indoor air contaminates. The society urged the congressional committee to increase funding for research in this area. (1)

The new Short Path Thermal Desorption System permits the analysis of samples by desorbing the samples directly into the gas chromatograph (GC) injection port for subsequent analysis by conventional GC detectors or via mass spectrometers. Due to its "short path" of sample flow, this new system overcomes the shortcomings of previous desorption systems by eliminating transfer lines (which are easily contaminated by samples) and by providing for the optimum delivery (and therefore maximum sensitivity) of samples to the GC injector via the shortest path possible.

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