Keirsbulck, MK; Pouzaud, FP; Pernelet-Joly, VPJ; Rousselle, C; Boulanger, G
The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) has been developing indoor air quality guidelines (IAQGs) since 2005. These guideline values correspond to safe levels of indoor pollutant concentrations below which adverse health effects are not expected to occur in the general population, including sensitive groups (children, elderly people), in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of air quality guidelines (WHO, 2000). For genotoxic carcinogenic compounds, guideline values are expressed as risk levels corresponding to a probability of cancer occurring. The body of data on air pollution in indoor environments has grown considerably in the last few years. In France, indoor pollutant levels have been investigated in various environments (homes, schools, offices, etc.). In particular, the French Indoor Air Quality Observatory (OQAI) has been conducting different field survey to improve knowledge on exposure of the general population to indoor pollutants. The need to describe the measured levels in terms of possible health effects prompted the development of specific health-based IAQG values, an effort coordinated by ANSES. French public policy to improve indoor air quality has been on-going since 2004 as part of the National Environment and Health Action Plan (NEHAP). In 2011, national laws instigated a national surveillance for some public buildings and for monitoring indoor air quality values for formaldehyde and benzene. Furthermore, ANSES coordinates the development of standards for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from building material and decoration products. Regulations have been issued due to the lack of voluntary labelling with respect to emissions from building products with mandatory labelling of VOC emissions from building and decoration products coming into force as of 1 September 2013 for all products on the market and ban on carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances of category 1 and 2 (according toCouncil DIrective 67/548/EEC). In several countries, IAQG values have already been set. On the European level for example, in 2004, the INDEX project defined IAQG values for 13 priority chemical pollutants (EC, 2004). More recently, the WHO published its first guidelines for indoor air quality with regard to nine chemicals (benzene, carbon monoxide, naphthalene, trichlorethylene, tetrachlorethylene, formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, benzo(a)pyrene and radon) (WHO, 2010). To carry out this expert assessment, ANSES relies on various working groups with complementary areas of expertise to develop IAQGs value based on health criteria. In particular, the Ansesâ scientific committee on assessment of the risks related to air environments endorsed the values. These bodies were set up for successive three-year period. Here, we present 10 years of expert assessments carried out using a methodological approach and the study of 11 pollutants, for 9 of which we determined IAQG values. Finally, we compare the ANSES and the WHO IAQG values. © 2015 International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate. All Rights Reserved.