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Chemical emissions from products can contribute to poor indoor air quality. Characterizing these emissions can help inform guidance on how to select products that are less polluting, as well as how to modify them to reduce their emissions.

With the recent growth of the ‘green building movement' and the emerging consensus that ‘green' buildings must provide good indoor air quality, there has been a growing demand for products that have limited negative impacts on indoor air. Often this results in the purchase of materials and products that are labeled/certified as ‘green' , ‘low-emitting', ‘low'- or ‘no-VOC', ‘non-toxic', etc. Whether such products are better with regards to indoor air quality and health is hard to determine because: (a) there are no standard criteria for using these terms in the marketplace, (b) approaches within various industries for testing product emissions differ, (c) the link between exposure to indoor emissions and human health is difficult to evaluate, and (d) many products with these labels do not include evaluations for indoor environmental concerns within their criteria for labeling. In order to gain a better understanding of how products are or should be evaluated for their impacts on indoor air quality and health and the certification and labeling programs currently available, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Indoor Environments Division commissioned a report to stimulate constructive discussion and promote awareness of gaps in current marketing information available to product purchasers and specifiers. This presentation discusses the reports findings and current efforts.