JenniferSpartzAnnotation13NYSIAQ

Annotation 13 Air Quality: Indoor Air This website was put together by the Department of Health for New York State. The goal of the website is to be a source of reliable references for people who want better indoor air in the state of New York. The article addresses many problems that may occur that create poor indoor air quality (IAQ). The NYS Department of Health did not do many of these studies; they are from outside sources. Both homes and schools are addressed, and both sections refer to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for more information. The website promotes the EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools program and refers to many different groups that have ideas about good air quality. Some of these groups include the EPA, New York State Materials, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Center for Disease Control. For the individual causes of poor indoor air, many different topics are addressed. These include symptoms due to exposure, causes of the pollutant, and actions to take in order to reduce the risks presented by the pollutants. The pollutants discussed on the website include formaldehyde, CO, asbestos, particulate matter (PM), mold, and ozone. The website talks of how to clean up after a flood in order to prevent microorganisms from growing, but also to avoid using hazardous biocides in the clean-up. On the VOCs page there are summaries of studies done by the EPA on indoor VOCs. On the PM page, the Department of Health advises to apply the National Ambient Air Standards (established by the EPA) to the indoor environment, even though they were originally put into place for outdoor air. Overall, the website advises to apply EPA and World Health Organization standards to indoor environmental pollutants like CO. “The World Health Organization recommends that the indoor air level for CO be below an average of nine parts per million (ppm) for any eight-hour period, and below 25 ppm for any one-hour period” (NYS Dept of Health 2010). The website also stresses the importance of good ventilation. “Because people spend about 90% of their time inside, indoor air pollution can actually be a bigger health risk than pollution in the air outside, even in crowded cities and industrial areas.” (NYS Dept of Health 2010). Ventilation is important as it removes moisture, stale air, and household chemicals, which are all dangerous to our health. The group also strongly suggests radon and CO testing as suggested by the EPA. They tell occupants of a building how to detect indoor air problems. This can be done by witnessing moisture condensation, water leaks, mold growth, stale air. Pets, smoking, certain product use, cooking habits, and parking could also affect the indoor environment. The site goes over how to conduct an air quality test and what actions have to be done before and during the test to ensure the most accurate results. The NYS Department of Health also further discusses tobacco use and known VOCs in common household products. This website is a good compilation of many references for residents of New York to search if they were to wonder about the harmful toxins they were breathing in and how to avoid breathing in those toxins in the future. This site follows the trend that more people are beginning to see the indoor environment as a problem, therefore the assumption is that they will be searching for solutions to the problem, and this site is set up to aid them in their search. This state run site while includes some of its own information, places a lot of trust in the accuracy of many national government agencies. While this could be seen as the people in charge should know what they are talking about, there is also a lack in this article of other groups data to back up their findings. This study aids our group questions as it talks about controlling the toxins in an indoor environment and gives instruction on how to do that for many different toxins that may be present.

Citation: “Air Quality: Indoor Air.” New York State Department of Health. Updated February 2010. Accessed 11 March 2010. .