Abstract

In order to assess the potential risks of chemical substances in consumer products, it is necessary to estimate the consumer exposure during product use. The computer tool ConsExpo is able to calculate indoor human exposure to chemical substances in products such as paint, cosmetics or cleaning agents. The General Fact Sheet describes default values useful for estimating the exposure to a chemical substance. By using these defaults, the exposure assessment is performed in a transparent and standardized way. Based on new available information and developments, RIVM updated the General Fact Sheet in the current report, which replaces the General Fact Sheet 2006.

The General Fact Sheet contains default values for the room in which the exposure takes place (for example room size) and for the person that is exposed, such as body weight and the surface areas of different parts of the body. In addition, it presents information on the ventilation in houses. Similarly, information is provided on inhalation rates for adults and children while at rest and during exercise. New in this version of the fact sheet are data on activity patterns. The General Fact Sheet explains the underlying data leading to the defaults and the quality of the default values.

Apart from the General Fact Sheet, there are various product-specific fact sheets, e.g. for paint, cosmetics, children toys, pest control products, do-it-yourself products, disinfection products and cleaning agents. These fact sheets contain information, e.g. on the exposure duration and amount of product used.

Contents

• List of abbreviations
• Summary
• 1. Introduction
  • 1.1. Introductory remarks to the updated version 2014
  • 1.2. ConsExpo
  • 1.3. Fact Sheets
  • 1.4. General Fact Sheet
  • 1.5. Database
• 2. Default settings and quality of the defaults
  • 2.1. Default settings
  • 2.2. Quality of the default
• 3. Room size and ventilation
  • 3.1. Room size and surface area
  • 3.2. Ventilation
• 4. Anthropometric parameters
  • 4.1. Body weight
  • 4.2. Total body surface area and surface are parts of the body
  • 4.3. Inhalation rates
• 5. Activity patterns
  • 5.1. Time activity patterns
• 6. References
• Annex I. Derivation of body weight, length and surface area corrected for population distributions of age, sex and ethnicity
• Annex II. Defaults General Fact Sheet 2006

Contact: ConsExpo team

National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)

ln.mvir@opxesnoc

This investigation has been performed by order and for the account of NVWA, within the framework of “kennisvraag 9.1.3” Consumer exposure to chemicals.

This is a publication of:

National Institute for Public Health and the Environment

P.O. Box 1|3720 BA Bilthoven

The Netherlands

www.rivm.nl/en