Cefic-lri Programme | European Chemical Industry Council

B4-THL: Integrated exposure for risk assessment in indoor environments (INTERA)

Principal Investigator

Prof. Matti Jantunen
PO Box 95
FI 70701 Kuopio
Finland
Tel: +358 400 587 816
Fax: +358 20 610 6499

Collaborators

Dr. Martie van Tongeren, Fintan Hurley, Dr. Karen S Galea, Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), UK
Dr Sean Semple, Environmental & Occupational Medicine, Division of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen, UK
Ir. Rudi Torfs, Dr. Katleen De Brouwere, VITO Environmental Risk and Health, Mol, BE
Dr. Miranda Loh, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Environmental Health, FI
Prof. Anastasios J. Karabelas, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, GR

Description

Exposure to indoor air contaminants is one of the major sources of exposure to environmental health stressors, especially given that people spend the majority of their time indoors. Indoor air quality is determined by the ability of outdoor source pollutants to infiltrate indoors and indoor sources such as building materials, furniture, burning of solid fuels, smoking (environmental tobacco smoke), electric appliances, use of cleaning products and other household chemicals, and indoor climatic variables. Thus, the variability regarding the species and the levels of contamination within and between the indoor microenvironments is very wide, even among the rooms of a family residence.

The main objective of the project will be to define optimal methodologies for predicting indoor exposure to chemical and non-chemical contaminants and their inter-relationships. The work will include the following elements:

– the characterisation and justification of a framework capable of being applied to indoor exposure data/information and covering parameters relevant to their wider interpretation;
– the development/incorporation of appropriate databases of quality assured source data;
– the development/incorporation of suitable models and statistical methodologies for the characterization and treatment of such data;
– the application of suitable models and/or statistical methods that serve to either fill gaps or offer refined exposure assessment where uncertainties are considered unacceptable;
– the ability to display exposure predictions in a number of formats in order that they can be better applied within the context of both research and policy development.

To read more information on this project or download the INTERA newsletter, please visit www.intera-home.eu.

Related Publications

D.A. Sarigiannis, S.P. Karakitsios, M.P. Antonakopoulou and A. Gotti (2012). Exposure analysis of accidental release of mercury from compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). Science of the Total Environment. 435-436, 306-315

Since the beginning of the research, the INTERA project has generated a newsletter. You can find some issues hereunder:

1st Issue

2nd Issue

4th Issue

Research project summaries:

Integrated Exposure for Risk Assessment in Indoor Environments (INTERA): A review of existing indoor air pollutant exposure data and models by C. Garden, S. Semple and K. De Brouwere

Integrated Exposure for Risk Assessment in Indoor Environment (INTERA): Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) case study by A. Sí¡nchez Jiménez, E. Kuijpers and K. S Galea

Posters:

Integrated Exposure for Risk Assessment in Indoor Environments (INTERA): The use of case studies to test INTERA tools by Karen Galea, Arja Asikainen, Spyros Karakitsios, Denis A. Sarigiannis, Katleen De Brouwere, Araceli Sanchez-Jimenez, Alberto Gotti, Sean Semple and Matti Jantunen

A full chain mechanistic approach assessing health risks from multiple sources in indoor environments by Arja Asikainen, Alberto Gotti, Spyros Karakitsios, Denis A. Sarigiannis, Sean Semple, Rudi Torfs, Katleen De Brouwere, Karen Galea, Martie van Tongeren and Matti Jantunen

Timeline: December 2009 > December 2011

LRI funding: €395,864

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