Abstract
Recently, the health issue of interior decoration materials has already been one of
the urgent issues for evaluating living environment in Taiwan. Since the
Formaldehyde and total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) had been managed, the
concentration of indoor environment was improving. But the special chemicals of
hormone disrupters included phthalate plasticizers, flame retardants, antiseptics, and
heavy metals became new challenge. Inappropriate use of the additive chemicals
within building materials, the potential hazards and health risk of indoor air quality
were occurred. These hormone disrupters could interfere with the natural hormones in
our body’s messengers.
The green building material (GBM) labelling system of Taiwan was officially
launched in 2004 to systematically and effectively evaluate the performance of green
building materials.The GBM system covers General rule and four major aspects,
including low emission Health, Ecology, Recycling, and High-performance. In
addition to heavy metal and toxic chemicals, the regulation of phthalate plasticizers
have also been involved into the General rule of “Evaluation manual for GBM” edited
in 2011. Therefore, the purpose of this study is planned to continuous screen survey
the hormone disrupters released from the production of the GBM labelling.
The study first collected the case study of GBM reports and the references of
hormone disrupters within materials. Second, the survey of the GBM reports was used
to check the item of environmental hormones. Third, we analyses the hazard and
exposure paths of environmental hormones from materials, and understood the effect
of these chemicals on the indoor environment. Finally, the action plan of screening
hormone disrupters based on different type of building materials was performed to
inform references.
材標章產品含環境荷爾蒙物質調查之研究(2/3)
VIII
Based on the above analysis results, the important findings of this study are
concluded as follows:
1. Three hundred and two samples of GBM reports were considered. The screening
results indicated that overall emissions of heavy metals and phthalate plasticizers
were below the acceptable standard of “Evaluation manual for GBM”.
2. The General rule of “Evaluation manual for GBM” edited in 2011 will officially
launched in 2012. The new rule will not only used to suit new applications, but also
some old applications apply for deadline extension.
3. In order to strengthen the GBM labeling system, the action plan of environmental
hormones of GBM Labeling included continus to check the GBM assessment and
increasing the sceening items.
The immediate and long-term suggestions of this study are proposed as follows:
1. For immediate suggestion: Planning to test the hormone disrupters of GBM
labeling production by the Taiwan Building Center (TBC).
2. For long-term suggestion: Planning to check the additive chemicals with the
Material safety data sheet (MSDS) for GBM labeling assessment by the TBC.