The volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted from indoor decorating and refurbishing materials and furniture is recognized as one of the main causes of bad indoor air quality,which has resulted in serious economic los...The volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted from indoor decorating and refurbishing materials and furniture is recognized as one of the main causes of bad indoor air quality,which has resulted in serious economic losses.In European countries and the U.S.,labeling systems for indoor decorating and refurbishing materials and furniture were established to address this issue with good effect.This paper is a review of these existing labeling systems.The basic principle of the labeling systems is introduced.The technical,policy and operational parts of the labeling systems are then discussed.The research concentrates on target pollutants,their threshold values and the testing methods employed.Some problems were uncovered in these labeling systems:too many VOCs were targeted;the method to determine the threshold values was not very rigorous;the testing time was too long (7-28 d).Some China's special features in developing such system are stated.Therefore,as the world's largest national producer and consumer of wood based panels and furniture,China should learn from foreign experience of establishing labeling systems as much as it can.However China should not simply copy the foreign approaches but develop its own scientific labeling system for indoor decorating and refurbishing materials and furniture.展开更多
Prenatal and early life home environment might be related to children’s asthma or allergic diseases later in life.A cross-sectional epidemiological study was designed and a questionnaire survey was performed in 3700 ...Prenatal and early life home environment might be related to children’s asthma or allergic diseases later in life.A cross-sectional epidemiological study was designed and a questionnaire survey was performed in 3700 preschool children in urban areas in Taiyuan,Shanxi Province,China.Questions on children’s asthma and allergic diseases from the International Study on Asthma and Allergies in Childhood(ISAAC)were integrated with questions on home environment from the Swedish Dampness in Buildings and Health(DBH)study,appropriately modified for Chinese life habits.By multivariate regression analyses controlling for age,gender,heredity,location in urban/suburban or rural areas,environmental tobacco smoke(ETS)and breastfeeding,we found that home new furniture(HNF)before birth(referring to 1 year before pregnancy and during pregnancy)was positively associated with wheezing ever(odds ratio(OR)1.23 with 95%CI of 1.03–1.48)and wheezing last 12 months(1.24,1.00–1.54),allergic rhinitis(AR)(1.26,1.06–1.51),and eczema(1.42,1.01–1.99).HNF between 0–1 years old was also positively associated with wheezing last 12 months.Home new decoration(HND)during 0–1 years old was positively associated with AR symptoms and eczema symptoms,more in the last 12 months.Stronger positive associations were found for signs of home mold and dampness with almost all children’s asthmatic and allergic symptoms(OR ranging from 1.23–1.85,P<0.05).By mutual adjustment between HNF before children’s birth and home mold or dampness,all the significance remained unchanged.Prenatal HNF and home mold or dampness was independently associated with children’s asthmatic and allergic diseases later in life.展开更多
基金supported by Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission Projects(D09050603750802)the Chinese National12th Five-year Science and Technology Support Plan Project(2012BAJ02B01)
文摘The volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted from indoor decorating and refurbishing materials and furniture is recognized as one of the main causes of bad indoor air quality,which has resulted in serious economic losses.In European countries and the U.S.,labeling systems for indoor decorating and refurbishing materials and furniture were established to address this issue with good effect.This paper is a review of these existing labeling systems.The basic principle of the labeling systems is introduced.The technical,policy and operational parts of the labeling systems are then discussed.The research concentrates on target pollutants,their threshold values and the testing methods employed.Some problems were uncovered in these labeling systems:too many VOCs were targeted;the method to determine the threshold values was not very rigorous;the testing time was too long (7-28 d).Some China's special features in developing such system are stated.Therefore,as the world's largest national producer and consumer of wood based panels and furniture,China should learn from foreign experience of establishing labeling systems as much as it can.However China should not simply copy the foreign approaches but develop its own scientific labeling system for indoor decorating and refurbishing materials and furniture.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(30800894,71173045,21207083)
文摘Prenatal and early life home environment might be related to children’s asthma or allergic diseases later in life.A cross-sectional epidemiological study was designed and a questionnaire survey was performed in 3700 preschool children in urban areas in Taiyuan,Shanxi Province,China.Questions on children’s asthma and allergic diseases from the International Study on Asthma and Allergies in Childhood(ISAAC)were integrated with questions on home environment from the Swedish Dampness in Buildings and Health(DBH)study,appropriately modified for Chinese life habits.By multivariate regression analyses controlling for age,gender,heredity,location in urban/suburban or rural areas,environmental tobacco smoke(ETS)and breastfeeding,we found that home new furniture(HNF)before birth(referring to 1 year before pregnancy and during pregnancy)was positively associated with wheezing ever(odds ratio(OR)1.23 with 95%CI of 1.03–1.48)and wheezing last 12 months(1.24,1.00–1.54),allergic rhinitis(AR)(1.26,1.06–1.51),and eczema(1.42,1.01–1.99).HNF between 0–1 years old was also positively associated with wheezing last 12 months.Home new decoration(HND)during 0–1 years old was positively associated with AR symptoms and eczema symptoms,more in the last 12 months.Stronger positive associations were found for signs of home mold and dampness with almost all children’s asthmatic and allergic symptoms(OR ranging from 1.23–1.85,P<0.05).By mutual adjustment between HNF before children’s birth and home mold or dampness,all the significance remained unchanged.Prenatal HNF and home mold or dampness was independently associated with children’s asthmatic and allergic diseases later in life.
