Indoor air quality in French dwellings

Set up by the French authorities, the Observatory on Indoor Air Quality (OQAI) aims at collecting data on population exposure to indoor pollutants in various indoor environments. Accordingly, OQAI undertook a national survey in order to assess the air quality inside the French dwellings. A large amount of information has been collected from 567 dwellings (1,612 individuals questioned), representative of dwellings in France. This snapshot of indoor pollution focuses on more than 30 variables (chemical, biological and physical). The first results show differences between indoors and outdoors. Most of the target compounds were found in most of the dwellings surveyed. Pollution in homes is not homogeneous: some homes had indoor pollutant concentrations much higher than the median concentrations observed. Approximately one dwelling in 10 had simultaneous high concentrations of several volatile organic compounds (VOC), while inversely 45% of dwellings had low concentrations of all target VOCs. Attached garages had higher VOC levels than the dwellings themselves. House dust mites constitute the most frequent source of allergens.