United States	Otfice of	Oftice of
Environmental Protection	Air and Radiation	Research and Development
Agency	Washington, DC 20460	Washington, DC 20460
SEPA Indoor Air Facts	No. 2
Indoor Air Quality	June 1987
Implementation Plan
BACKGROUND
In June 1987, EPA submitted a
Report to Congress that contained
the Agency's overall indoor air
quality policy objectives and a
near-term plan for implementing
the provisions of Title IV of the
Superfund Amendments and Reauthor-
ization Act of 1986 (SARA). EPA
was required to submit this
report, titled EPA Indoor Air
Quality Implementation Plan, under
Section 403(d) of the Superfund
law. An earlier Report to Con-
gress, submitted on April 10,
1987, described the Agency's
near-term plan for radon technical
studies and mitigation research
activities.
Title IV directs EPA to establish
an indoor air quality research
program, to coordinate with other
public and private sector research
and development efforts on indoor
air, to disseminate information on
indoor air problems and controls,
and to assess appropriate federal
actions to mitigate risks
associated with indoor air pollu-
tion.
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN CONTENTS
The EPA Indoor Air Quality
Implementation Plan provides
information on the "direction of
EPA's indoor air program, includ-
ing the Agency's policy on indoor
air and priorities for research
and information dissemination over
the next 18 to 24 months. The
report also describes past federal
activities related to indoor air
quality and the programs of other
federal agencies.
In the near-term, EPA will focus
its research efforts on:
•	Development of information about
exposures to indoor air pollutants
and associated health effects.
•	Development of methods to diag-
nose and correct the causes of
building-related illnesses
associated with the "sick building
syndrome."
•	Identification of common
ventilation and building design
practices which contribute to
indoor air pollution and appropri-
ate changes to those practices.
•	Identification of specific
pollutant sources found indoors
and appropriate control measures.
Several pollutants of primary
public health concern—including
radon, asbestos, formaldehyde, and
some pesticides—are already being
addressed by other EPA programs.
In addition to continuing those
programs, EPA will focus attention
on other types of indoor air
pollution, including environmental
tobacco smoke, biological con-
taminants, and volatile organic
compounds (VOCs).
In the report, EPA describes the
objectives of its indoor air
quality program. First, EPA will
identify, characterize, and rank
indoor air problems caused either
by individual pollutants or by
pollutant mixtures.
Second, EPA will identify and
assess mitigation strategies aimed
either at controlling individual

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high risk pollutants or sources or
at achieving reductions simul-
taneously from multiple sources.
Third, EPA will determine what
actions are needed to reduce risks
from indoor air pollution. Such
actions may involve one or more of
the following strategies:
•	Issuing regulations under exist-
ing statutes to reduce significant
health risks.
•	Increasing state and local
government and private sector
capacity to identify and solve
indoor air pollution problems
through information dissemination
and technical assistance.
•	Referring problems to other
federal agencies with appropriate
regulatory authority.
•	Requesting separate indoor air
regulatory authority from Con-
gress, if appropriate.
STATUS OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT
INDOOR AIR QUALITY
EPA has submitted to Congress, as
an appendix to this report, a
Preliminary Indoor Air Pollution
Information Assessment, which
describes existing knowledge on
indoor air quality. The implemen-
tation plan and the information
assessment will be submitted to
the Agency's Science Advisory
Board (SAB) for review.
OCTOBER 1988 REPORT TO CONGRESS
Under Section 403(e) of SARA, EPA
must submit a comprehensive Report
to Congress on indoor air and
radon by October 1988. This report
will describe the research, infor-
mation dissemination, and other
activities undertaken by EPA under
Title IV as well as the research
and mitigation activities under-
taken by EPA and other federal
agencies under other statutes.
The report will also include
assessments of the current state
of knowledge of indoor air pollu-
tion, mitigation options, adequacy
of existing standards, long-term
research needs, and recommenda-
tions. EPA will coordinate the
development of the Section 403(e)
report with other federal agencies
through the Interagency Committee
on Indoor Air Quality (CIAQ).
EPA's Office of Public Affairs
(202-382-3324) has a limited num-
ber of copies of the EPA Indoor
Air Quality Implementation Plan
available for distribution.

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