What Is Being Done to improve Indoor Air Quality?

Awareness of indoor air pollution as an environmental issue is relatively new. Indoor air pollutants can cause long and short term health effects especially when concentrations build up. One challenge for researchers today is to increase our understanding of the possible health impacts of being exposed to mixtures of indoor air pollutants at low levels for long periods of time.

EPA has set a high priority on improving the way in which buildings are designed and operated, having concluded that people's exposure to indoor air pollutants can be reduced significantly by implementing current knowledge about sound building operation and maintenance practices.

In addition, EPA is developing guidance for school facility managers, new home builders, and architects and design engineers to acquaint them with the most current information on how to prevent indoor air quality problems from occurring or resolve them quickly if they do occur. Even in the absence of complete scientific understanding of indoor air pollution, prudent public policy dictates that intensive efforts be undertaken to minimize people's exposure to the entire range of indoor air pollutants.