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Sound action plan needed on Indoor Air Quality management

KUALA LUMPUR: It is imperative that the government develops a sound action plan and strengthen policies on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) management to protect and promote health in the indoor environment, specifically for non-industrial buildings.

Experts said non-industrial buildings, include homes, schools and public indoor spaces such as malls, restaurants and theatres.

They also called for the relevant stakeholders to ensure residential areas are not built near high-pollution sources, necessitate the use of extraction fans in homes, and implement an anti-idling policy near school grounds to improve air quality.

Universiti Selangor visiting professor of Environmental Health Professor Dr Jamal Hisham Hashim pointed out the absence of IAQ guidelines specifically for homes in Malaysia.

He said while the 'Industry Code of Practice on IAQ' for workplaces under the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Dosh) could be applied to schools and institutions of learning, they may not be entirely suited for private homes.

"However, schools and homes have young children and elderly people who may be more sensitive to the effects of indoor air pollutants (IAP), thus may require more stringent standards.

"The US, for example have specified limits for formaldehyde, ozone and radon (chemicals found in indoor air which are causing the most concern) in homes," he told the New Straits Times.

He further said the authorities, including local government, should ensure proper land-use planning and zoning of residential areas where they should not be located near industrial areas or major roads and highways as outdoor air pollutants could find their way indoors.

"Homes located too close to major roads and highways, industrial sources like power plants, iron and steel mills, incinerators, cement factories and quarries are prone to have poor IAQ.

"Pasir Gudang is an example where residential areas and schools intertwine with polluting industries," said the Provenue Corporation managing director.

Zoning separates land areas into broad categories of land use—for example, residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural—with the notion that separation of land uses and provision of adequate buffer zones promote public health and welfare of the population.

Studies have found an increased incidence of adverse effects among those who live near sources of polluted air; these include increased respiratory diseases like asthma and premature mortality.

Additionally, Jamal said the use of exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathroom should be made standard for all homes and for authorities to regulate the use of urea-formaldehyde resins (UF) as adhesives in pressed wood products such as in making particleboard.

"Normally 10 per cent of the glue used should not emit more than 0.09 ppm of formaldehyde as exposure to it can lead to nasal cancer.

"Lastly, consumers and homeowners should be educated on indoor air pollutants and their danger to human health."

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, formaldehyde, a colourless, pungent-smelling gas, can cause watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes and throat, nausea, asthma, fatigue, and severe allergic reactions.

Jamal noted that as Malaysia is a tropical country, it is possible to have natural ventilation by opening windows and airing the house regularly.

"During this Covid-19 pandemic, outdoor air pollution is drastically reduced due to less transportation and economic activities. Therefore, it is important for us to spend some time outside our homes in gardens and parks, and to ventilate our houses once in a while to remove IAP."

Jamal said natural, cross-ventilation with oppositely placed windows to allow airflow through the house is the best form of ventilation.

"However, more people spend time at home with more activities like cooking. This may increase our exposure to IAP, especially amongst large families in overcrowded homes.

"Cooking activities, especially frying; smoking, use of insecticides especially burning mosquito coils, and off-gassing of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from new furniture and carpets are among IAP sources.

"In a school health study done in collaboration with the Uppsala University in Sweden, we found that schoolchildren's exposure to house dust mites, bacteria, fungi and pet and chemical allergens in schools and homes may cause lung inflammation, asthma and allergy."

However, he said when the air is polluted from outdoor sources, then air purifiers with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters could help clean indoor air.

"There are private indoor air quality monitoring and laboratories in Malaysia which can do indoor air sampling and monitoring."

Malaysia Clean Air Society deputy president Professor Dr Juliana Jalaludin said IAQ can be improved with three basic strategies - source control, ventilation improvements, and using air purifier.

For the source control, she said intervention strategies should be formulated in managing and improving IAQ problems, which would involve all the stakeholders and related agencies to recognise and prioritise IAQ as a top priority issue in environmental health.

"The government must educate the public and create awareness on the environmental hazards and the risk of exposure to IAP.

"Besides, we currently do not have IAQ standard for non-commercial buildings. As for air quality assessors, they need to understand the chemical composition of emissions from air pollution sources to better manage them.

"Additionally, school managements should also implement anti-idling policy to control vehicle emissions around the school compound."

Juliana, an Environmental and Occupational Health expert from Universiti Putra Malaysia said air monitoring should also be expanded near locations where children spend time such as schools to accurately characterise community exposure.

"High-pollution sources should not be sited in close proximity to residential areas, playgrounds, schools and daycares to reduce exposures of vulnerable populations to combustion-related pollutants.

"Existing areas with large sources of combustion-related air pollutants should be targeted for emission reductions. The risk reduction would involve applying pollutant control strategies and rerouting traffic away from community areas.

"Overall, simple steps we can take to improve the IAQ are to do a regular inspection and air filter replacement, and open up the windows of our homes to let the fresh breeze in. Start paying attention to IAQ today and live a better tomorrow."

Prof Dr Mohd Talib Latif, a professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Air Pollution at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said the level of certain pollutants such as fine particles is naturally high in a tropical country like Malaysia.

IAQ, Talib said is made worst as most houses these days have "very poor" ventilation system, while most schools in urban areas were located "very near" to roadsides with heavy traffic.

"Regular cleaning can remove settled dust that has the potential to be resuspended. School classrooms and compounds should be free from the influence of outdoor pollutants especially from motor vehicle and industrial emissions.

"Without a good ventilation system, the level of air pollutant can exceed the concentration suggested by the WHO guideline for indoor environment," Talib said.

Senior lecturer Dr Md Firoz Khan from the Department of Chemistry, University of Malaya called for a multi-disciplinary approach and integrated enforcement to relocate vulnerable groups of people to safer residential areas.

"There are many points to consider to improve IAQ, such as indoor architecture, building layout, building or construction materials, people's lifestyle, kitchen or cooking, and housekeeping practices.

"Our research showed that the concentration of toxic metals, formaldehyde and other aromatic hydrocarbons were relatively higher as compared to IAQ guidelines proposed by Dosh.

"We observed that benzene and ethylbenzene showed potentially higher carcinogenic risk in a nursery facing nearby busy road."

Firoz added that public universities should be equipped with advanced state-of-the-art instruments such as aerosol mass spectrometry, and proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry to determine chemicals in indoor air.

"To explore the atmospheric chemistry in the tropical region, such instruments are essential. The data generated from such instruments could be made available for stakeholders to develop environmental policy for the government."

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