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The mission of the Indoor Air
Quality (IAQ) Program is to conduct and promote the
coordination of research, investigations, experiments,
demonstrations, surveys, and studies relating to the causes,
effects, extent, prevention, and control of indoor pollution
in California.
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The IAQ Program is a
multi-disciplinary program with expertise in organic and
physical chemistry, microbiology and biological aerosols,
mechanical engineering including ventilation engineering,
industrial hygiene, epidemiology, physics, statistics and
psychology.
The IAQ Program was established
by AB 3200 (Tanner) in to "...conduct and promote
the coordination of research, investigations, experiments,
demonstrations, surveys, and studies relating to the causes,
effects, extent, prevention, and control of indoor
pollution," and this mandate language was added to
the California
Health and Safety Code (105400-105430). As part of the
Division of Laboratories from to, the IAQ Program
focused on indoor pollutant exposure assessment and
concentration measurement. Currently in the Division of
Environmental and Occupational Disease Control, the Program is
developing techniques and studies to investigate links between
environmental exposures and disease.
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The IAQ Program staff has
carried out original research on a variety of indoor air
quality issues such as: measurement of formaldehyde and
nitrogen dioxide in mobile homes; identification of asbestos
in public buildings; evaluation of radon concentrations in
California residences and schools; survey of accidental deaths
due to CO; feasibility and effectiveness of building
"bake-outs"; effectiveness of ultraviolet radiation
and ventilation to control the spread of airborne infections
such as tuberculosis; evaluation of indoor exposure to
Proposition 65 chemicals from consumer products; development
of guidelines for building managers for preventing
Legionnaire's disease; assessment of the effectiveness of
engineering controls for designated smoking areas in public
buildings.
The IAQ section chief serves as
chair to the California
Interagency Working Group on Indoor Air Quality with
representatives from federal, state and local agencies and
academic institutions.
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