Posted by lynn
on 9/3/2008, 5:09 pm, in reply to "Indoor Air Quality Projects"
216.67.21.49
RURAL ALASKA DIESEL EXHAUST
HEALTH IMPACT STUDY - this is still on web if you do a search. one small part of this study was looking at indoor air and they used voc (volatile organic carbon) badges for part of that. They didn't end up looking at smoking versus non-smoking homes even though they meant to but benzene, a carcinogen and contaminant is thought to be noticeably higher in smoker's homes if all the other sources of benzene are the same. Same for several other chemicals that are in the smoke and can be measured with the badges. The badges are really easy to use. People just clip them on like a pin and then wear them. Or you can just use the badges in a room and compare non-smoking houses to smoking house results. This study they did learn from their mistakes, so if you decide to use badges then this would be worth looking at. to see what the badges look like type in "3m organic vapor badges" and there are a few labs that sell them (3M the company makes them). there are other indoor air that can also be used, but badges might be one thing to look at anyway. looking at particulate matter (smoke, dust) differences can get expensive with more monitoring needed and more expensive equipment but there is some pretty cool equipment to do that too. maybe the easiest would just be people's lung capacity difference in smoking and non-smoking homes. it is just hard to account for all the reasons that these could be different besides smoking. But it can be a really good education if people try before and after smoking or between smokers and non-smokers. good luck that sounds really interesting and i think there is a lot of studies smoke effects on people's health for alaska - like number of smokers having health problems. But not so many studies in Villages on the home air quality which is a really good idea. i am sure that epa region 10 air quality could provide some good resources. mary manous- manous.mary@epa.gov
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