The Ethics of Using Human Panels in the Indoor Air Sciences 1

The Helsinki Declaration and similar national regulations require that the ethical aspects of all intended experimental exposures of humans should be evaluated and found acceptable, using the best available toxicological principles and data. In the low‐level exposure ranges of indoor air, very little is known about the principles for such evaluations and few health data exist. This paper discusses principles for such evaluations in relation to experimental exposures of IAQ panels. The acceptability of chemical exposures of human subjects in IAQ research should be based on the following principles, a) Only reversible non‐adverse health effects can be accepted. The risk of adverse effects associated with exposure must be documented to be acceptably low. b) Exposures to well‐known chemicals or emissions from commercially available sources can be accepted if these sources have a history of many years' problem‐free use on the free market and if their use during the experimental exposures corresponds to normally encountered exposures. Studies including exceptional exposures or sensitive subjects should be registered and evaluated by the local ethics committees. c) Exposures to emissions from new types of source can be accepted if the exposures are chemically identified and are below official indoor, outdoor or occupational guidelines for exposures. Procedures for the evaluation of exposures to compounds lacking toxicological data are discussed. These exposures should be registered and evaluated by local ethics committees. d) The selection of subjects must include special pre‐tests and defined exclusion criteria to exclude risk groups.