Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. VOCs have a very low boiling point and are emitted as ghttp://westernslopelabs.com/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=pageases from many consumer products. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands such as paints and paint thinners, cigarette smoke, aerosol sprays, air fresheners, and copy machines and printers. People can be exposed to these compounds by inhalation and by direct contact to the skin. Most VOCs are not immediately toxic, but some may have long term health effects such as cancer, as well as damage to the liver, kidney, and central nervous system. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. Potential symptoms of toxicity include:
- conjunctival irritation
- Respiratory tract discomfort
- headache/ dizziness/ loss of coordination
- allergic skin reaction
- declines in serum cholinesterase levels
- nausea
- emesis
- epistaxis (nose bleeding)
- fatigue
- cancer
Certain VOCs are part of the Center for Disease Control’s National Biomonitoring Program
https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/environmental_chemicals.html
Test Panel (we test for the metabolites of the following compounds)
- Acrolein
- Acrylamide
- Acrylonitrile
- Ethylene oxide
- Benzene
- 1-Bromopropane
- 1,3-Butadiene
- Carbon-disulfide
- Crotonaldehyde
- Cyanide
- Ethylbenzene
- Propylene oxide
- Styrene
- Toluene
- Trichloroethylene
- Vinyl chloride
- Xylene