INTERA Indoor exposure knowledge management system

Intera

Scope

Indoor exposure knowledge management system that incorporates as much as possible of the information needed in health risk assessments related to indoor air and provides a user-friendly access to that information through this interface. The knowledge management system accommodates the data produced in the previous studies and allows powerful way to utilize the information already available. All content can by updated by anyone providing the possibility to spread the available and newly produced information fast and easily among the various target groups in the field.

The work has been done in a project called INTERA (Integrated Exposure For Risk Assessment In Indoor Environments), which is sponsored by the CEFIC LRI. More information of the project is available in the project web-pages.

Content

Work in progress

The indoor exposure knowledge management system includes links to available data, tools and documents and also provides some processed information that has not been available in a form of a database earlier.

Data

Exposure concentrations for indoor exposure

This group of data includes information on measured concentrations in indoor and outdoor air. In addition data for concentrations in consumer products and measured personal exposure levels as biomonitoring data are provided. This kind of data can be used for predicting the personal exposure levels resulting from indoor exposure.

• Measured indoor exposure levels
• Measured outdoor exposure levels
• Concentrations in consumer products
• Measured biomonitoring data

Indoor exposure sources

This group of data includes information on the sources (products and materials) of indoor exposure. Also the source strengths (emissions / emission factors) of different products and materials are provided. This information is useful for situations when the indoor exposure levels are modeled by taking into account the level emissions and the transport/transformation of the pollutant in the indoor environment before modeling the exposure concentrations and finally the exposure.

• Sources and source strengths of indoor air pollutants

Housing and sociological conditions determining exposures

This group of data includes information on housing, such as floor area and volume, air exchange rates, habitant information, building materials etc.). This information can be used to determine the exposure levels of pollutants for cases when measured information is not available or cannot be modeled due to lack of data.

• Housing statistics
• Air exchange rate for European residences

Exposure modifiers

This group of data includes information on exposure modifiers and this kind of data can be used to describe the features that affect to the level of exposure indoors.

• consumer behaviour
• indoor:outdoor ratio

Modelling tools

This group includes the modeling tools that can be used for evaluating the levels of indoor exposure. Models can be used for calculating source emissions, concentrations and/or exposure levels.

• Indoor exposure models

Documents

This section provides documents relevant for indoor exposure.

Guidance documents

General guidance on exposure assessment

Household Products Database
Short description	This database links over 7,000 consumer brands to health effects from Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) provided by manufacturers and allows scientists and consumers to research products based on chemical ingredients. The database is designed to help answer the following typical questions: What are the chemical ingredients and their percentage in specific brands? Which products contain specific chemical ingredients? Who manufactures a specific brand? How do I contact this manufacturer? What are the acute and chronic effects of chemical ingredients in a specific brand? What other information is available about chemicals in the toxicology-related databases of the National Library of Medicine?
Regional coverage

Exposure and Risk Screening Methods for Consumer Product Ingredients
Short description	"The main purpose of this document is to present methodologies and specific consumer exposure information that can be used for screening-level risk assessments of environmental and repeated human exposures to HPV chemicals through the manufacturing and use of consumer products, mainly laundry, cleaning, and personal care products. However, the approach can be applied to other consumer products when information on how consumers use the products is available. These methodologies allow hazard information to be put into context by using exposure information to characterize risk. Screening-level risk assessments are useful for prioritizing the need for further work."
Regional coverage

Human & Environmental Risk Assessment on Ingredients of Household Cleaning Products (HERA)
Short description	HERA (Human & Environmental Risk Assessment) is a joint A.I.S.E.1 and CEFIC2 project initiated in September 1999. It concerns the assessment of the risks to human health and the environment from ingredients of household cleaning products during the two scenarios ‘Use in the Household’ and ‘Disposal to the Environment’. Includes guidance for exposure assessment also.
Regional coverage

Guidance documents for consumer products

The Guidelines for Exposure Assessment
Short description	EPA's The Guidelines for Exposure Assessment describe the general concepts of exposure assessment including definitions and associated units, and by providing guidance on the planning and conducting of an exposure assessment. Guidance is also provided on presenting the results of the exposure assessment and characterizing uncertainty.
Regional coverage

Principles of Characterizing and Applying Human Exposure Models
Short description	"Harmonization Project Document No. 3 provides descriptions and applications of some published exposure models to illustrate both the principles and practices of exposure modeling, but it does not attempt to provide a comprehensive list of existing exposure models. Rather, the focus of this report is on discussing general properties of exposure models and how they should be described. The characteristics of different modeling frameworks are examined, and 10 principles are recommended for characterizing, evaluating and using exposure models in order to help model users select and apply the most appropriate models. The report also discusses issues such as validation, input data needs, time resolution and extrapolation of the model results to different populations and scenarios."
Regional coverage

IPCS Risk Assessment Terminology
Short description	Harmonization Project Document No. 1 includes Part 1: IPCS/OECD Key Generic Terms Used in Chemical Hazard/Risk Assessment and Part 2: IPCS Glossary of Key Exposure Assessment Terminology. Document describes harmonized generic and technical terms used in chemical hazard/risk assessment, which will help facilitate the mutual use and acceptance of the assessment of chemicals between countries.
Regional coverage

Guidelines for Good Exposure Assessment Practice for Human Health Effects of Chemicals
Short description	The aim of this document is to provide guidance that will assist those having to undertake or evaluate exposure assessments. These guidelines will enable those individuals inexperienced in exposure assessment to familiarize themselves with the underlying principles and to gain an insight into the information required to conduct an exposure assessment. They are also aimed at risk assessors and risk managers who need to understand the process involved in obtaining the output from an exposure assessment to assist them in making more confident and informed decisions when characterizing and evaluating risks to human health from exposure to chemicals.
Regional coverage

Glossary of Exposure Assessment-Related Terms: A Compilation
Short description	This is an unedited selection of exposure assessment related terms taken from a combination of 57 glossaries for exposure and related fields (references below). It has been prepared for the IPCS Exposure Terminology Subcommittee as a research paper for discussion purposes.
Regional coverage

Environmental Health Criteria 214: Human Exposure Assessment
Short description	This document on human exposure assessment presents in one publication the concepts, rationale, and statistical and procedural methodologies for human exposure assessment. The underpinnings of exposure assessment are the basic environmental and biological measurements found in the more familiar specialties of air and water pollution and food and soil sciences. Therefore, throughout this document readers are referred to other publications for technical details on instrumental and laboratory methods. This criteria document is intended for the community of scientific investigators inquiring about the human health consequences of contaminants in our environment.
Regional coverage

Project documents

• EnVIE report - Indoor Air Pollution Exposure. The indoor exposure agents reviewed in this report include those, originally selected for EnVIE, namely tobacco smoke, (combustion) particles, carbon monoxide, radon, moisture, moulds and dust mites and VOCs. In addition this report reviews the indoor exposures to the INDEX high priority chemicals, benzene, formaldehyde, naphthalene, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, INDEX second priority chemicals, acetaldehyde, xylenes, toluene and styrene, INDEX chemicals requiring further research (Ammonia), δ-limonene and α-pinene.