EnVie
Co-ordination action in Indoor air Quality and Health Effects
International project:
Acronym: EnVie
Programme: European Commission 6th RTD Framework Programme, Policy support: Specific activities covering wider field of research under the Focusing and Integrating Community Research programme 2002-2006
Contract No.: SSPE-CT-2004-502671
Project implementation period of time: 1. 04. 2004 – 31. 10. 2008
Total value of the project: EUR 824 977
ITB’s budget: EUR 20 900
Coordinator on behalf of ITB: Halina Prejzner, PhD
Leader/Coordinating organisation: INSTITUTO DE ENGENHARIA (IDMEC-FEUP) – Portugal
Participants:
CENTRE SCIENTIFIQUE ET TECHNIQUE DU BATIMENT, France
KANSANTERVEYSLAITOS, Finland
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO, Italy
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES - DIRECTORATE GENERAL JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE, Belgium
TEKNILLINEN KORKEAKOULU, Finland
NORSK INSTITUTT FOR LUFTFORSKNING, Norway
FODOR JOZSEF NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH CENTRE, Hungary
CONSORZIO PER IL CENTRO INTERUNIVERSITARIO DI BIOLOGIA MARINA ED ECOLOGIA APPLICATA, Italy
DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET, Denmark
AARHUS UNIVERSITET, Denmark
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, United Kingdom
SVERIGES PROVNINGS - OCH FORSKNINGSINSTITUT AB, Sweden
BUILDING RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT LTD, United Kingdom
ASOCIACION DE INVESTIGACION Y COOPERACION INDUSTRIAL DE ANDALUCIA "F. DE PAULA ROJAS", Spain
INSTYTUT TECHNIKI BUDOWLANEJ, Poland
UNIVERZITA KARLOVA V PRAZE, Czech Republic
UNITÀ SANITARIA LOCALE ROMA E, Italy
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY, United Kingdom
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH, Hungary
Short description:
the EnVIE project aimed to contribute to a better understanding of how indoor air quality affects human health. The approach was to leverage the results of existing indoor air research projects and review the literature developed by various committees and groups over the last two decades.
The team's main area of interest was determining how policies could protect against the harmful effects of various agents and mixtures. In tackling this problem, the ENVIE project team took the opposite approach: first, it focused on the indoor air quality issues of greatest concern at European scale, and finally, it created a list of sources of indoor health risks.
Modern European citizens spend in excess of 90 % of their time in indoor environments. Up to the early 2000 national and European air quality policies have devoted most of their efforts towards the limitation of outdoor environmental concentrations for some specific pollutants. Indoor exposures to air pollution must certainly be given a better attention in policy making in such a way 1) to better understand and assess the contribution of indoor spaces to environmental diseases 2) to set up coherent policies as regards the reduction of exposures. It was therefore the objective of this project to increase the understanding of health impacts of indoor air quality. To especially focus on the assessment of policy relevance of research into the health effects of isolated agents and mixtures, and to consider the implications for thresholds and safety margins for the general population and for people at work. It addressed in particular how indoor air quality contributes to the observed rise in asthma and respiratory allergy as well as in other acute and chronic health impacts. To respond to the objectives, EnVIE has identified three major and complementary issues: Exposure, Health effects, Spaces characterisation and sources. Since the aim of EnVie was to aggregate building blocks, interfacing sciences and policy making, EnVIE specifically was considering the issue of integration and policy interface. It has also given a large attention to the dissemination in particular through the organisation of the EnVIE annual conferences and reports. EnVie was designed for a three years duration. It is based on a core group of participants from The European collaborative action "urban air, indoor environment and human exposure. The consortium had 19 participants from 15 different countries, including eastern countries, all participants being selected from their scientific excellence and for their ability to disseminate and interface the outcome of the project with policy making.
The efforts and activities undertaken within the ENVIE project contributed to the development of a unique approach to changing indoor air quality guidelines. The results have been updated and verified under a new initiative funded by the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) and coordinated by the Joint Research Centre (JRC). They also contribute to a related World Health Organization (WHO) programme.
