The quality of the indoor air in buildings has begun to become increasingly important, but how is that quality measured? What are the pollutants that are being used to measure this quality?
The most widely analysed and evaluated pollutants are VOCs, but…
What are VOCs?
And what are COsV?
There are two types of organic compounds that we can find in the indoor environment generated by the multiple products we use: volatile (VOC) and semi-volatile (COsV).
In turn, VOCs can be of very different origin, nature, toxicity and danger to humans. The only thing they have in common with each other is volatility at a certain temperature and environmental conditions.
The classification of these in Europe is made only according to their point of volatility, but not according to their toxicity. The criterion applied and its need to be specified in the technical data sheets and labels of the products has only been that of their greater volatility and ease of detection, with the intention of slowing down their ascension to the ozone layer, but not that of their impact on human biology or on the quality of the indoor air of buildings.
In other places, such as the United States, their classification does affect their nature and their danger to human life.
However, the compounds most harmful to human life are those that European legislation does not require producers and manufacturers to reflect in their files: COsV. They are compounds of greater molecular weight that, as they do not volatilize as easily as the previous ones, remain much longer (many years) inside the interior environments of the house, adhering to the fabrics and preferably to the synthetic surfaces, causing much greater contamination in the interior environments. In addition to this, they are usually all of synthetic origin and quite toxic, that is, there is hardly any variation in their degree of toxicity as in the case of VOCs, all of which are highly toxic.
The criterion most adopted by the manufacturers of the treatments of which we sent you information at the time, is not to use substances that contain or generate COsV. And if they do generate VOCs, they should not be harmful or toxic to human life, or harmful to the environment, because they are natural. As a recommendation, VOCs are always very easy to remove with proper ventilation of the place, while COsV is not.
This may explain your throat irritation, due to the presence of harmful or toxic VOCs and the safe presence of COsV in the “green” products of much of the industry.
