Trends in Europe to reduce the indoor air pollution of VOCs

A strong research tradition in the European countries about volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and indoor air quality has led to several consensus reports about stategies for VOC measurements including the development of methods to measure VOC emissions from building products. European and Nordic standards have been developed for emission testing including several national and international labeling schemes. Proposals for guidelines for a number of different VOCs have been developed either nationally or by consensus. A compound-by-compound approach for health evaluation of VOCs has become more common and there appears to be a growing recognition to focus on the biologic relevance of organic compounds in indoor air (OCIAs).