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Indoor Air Guideline Levels for Formic, Acetic, Propionic and Butyric Acid
Author(s) -
Nielsen Gunnar Damgård,
Hansen Lea Frimann,
Andersen Bjørn,
Poulsen Nexø and Otto Melchior
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0668.1998.tb00028.x
Subject(s) - irritation , formic acid , butyric acid , guideline , eye irritation , indoor air , odor , threshold limit value , acetic acid , toxicology , air pollutants , occupational exposure , environmental science , environmental chemistry , medicine , chemistry , food science , environmental health , air pollution , environmental engineering , chromatography , organic chemistry , biology , pathology , immunology
Evaluation of sensory and health effects from indoor air exposures is hampered by the limited number of specific indoor air standards and guidelines. It is proposed that the evaluations be based on three values for each compound, an odour threshold, a value set for prevention of irritation of eyes and nose (sensory irritation) while all other non‐genotoxic effects (including lung effects) are included in the category “health effects” and evaluated by means of a single value. Finally, it is also evaluated whether the substance is a genotoxic carcinogen. Indoor air guideline values are proposed for formic, acetic, propionic and butyric acid, based on published literature. For each substance the lowest of the proposed sensory irritation and health effect values was higher than, but otherwise in reasonable agreement with, established occupational exposure limits (OEL) multiplied by 1/40. This suggests that the OELs may play an important role in evaluations of the types of indoor air exposure effect mentioned.