TVOC AND HEALTH IN NONINDUSTRIAL INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS - REPORT FROM A NORDIC SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS MEETING AT LANGHOLMEN IN STOCKHOLM, 1996

The presence of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in indoor air has in past decades often been associated with adverse health effects such as sensory irritation, odour and the more complex set of symptoms called the Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). More recently, a possible link betw een the increase in the prevalence of allergies throughout the industr ialized areas of the world and exposure to elevated concentrations of VOCs has been suggested. In many cases, the total VOC (TVOC) is used a s a measure of the concentration of air pollution and, by extension, a s a measure of the health risk in non-industrial buildings. However, t he TVOC concept has been questioned for a number of reasons, including the facts that it is an ambiguous concept, that individual VOCs makin g up the whole can be expected to give rise to different effects in pe ople and that researchers have been using different definitions and in terpretations of TVOC. This means that simple addition of the quantiti es of individual VOCs may not be relevant from a health point of view. Twelve researchers from the Nordic countries have reviewed the litera ture on VOC/TVOC and health. A search of the literature resulted in th e identification of about 1100 articles, of which 120 were selected fo r further examination. A final review of the articles reduced their nu mber to 67 that contained data on both exposure and health effects. Th e group concluded that indoor air pollution including VOC is most like ly a cause of health effects and comfort problems in indoor environmen ts in non-industrial buildings. However, the scientific literature is inconclusive with respect to TVOC as a risk index for health and comfo rt effects in buildings. Consequently, there is at present an inadequa te scientific basis on which to establish limit values/guidelines for TVOC, both for air concentrations, and for emissions from building mat erials. The group concluded that continued research is required to est ablish a risk index for health and comfort effects for VOC in non-indu strial buildings. (C) Indoor Air (1997).