Healthy Indoors Magazine
Issue link: https://hi.healthyindoors.com/i/1507087
Healthy Indoors | 17 W hen I first started writing about indoor air quality (IAQ) in 1991, I saw the industry much like the photo strewn across these pages. Someone, something, somewhere was a superhero-like entity watching over a world of indoor spacesprotecting the space and the people inside those spaces from any kind of health issue. Yes, my expectations for this world started out extreme- ly high. I also had a front row seat in Washington, DC, in the early-1990s for former .S. Rep. Henry Waxman, en- vironmental tobacco and ozone wars, OSHA's proposed IAQ rule, and .S. Rep. Joseph ennedy II's IAQ Act. But there are many of us who have been in this indus- try for 30 years or more, riding the roller coaster of regula- tion, certification, standards, and guidance. It could be time to stop dwelling on the past and listen to Seema Bhan- gar, PhD, when she says, "We're only getting started" With little to no incentive for federal IAQ regulations right now, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHCHS)with the help of Open Philanthropy and Effec- tive Giving organizationsrecently introduced the Model State Indoor Air Quality Act of 2023. You can read it here at Model Clean Indoor Air Act document or watch the webi- nar at "Breath of Fresh Air : nveiling the Model Clean Indoor Air Act to Safeguard Public Health" and transcript (PDF). Legal drafters of the document were James Hodge Jr., Erica White, and Summer Ghaith of the Center of Public Health Law and Policy, Sandra Day O'Con- nor College of Law, at Arizona State niversity. While the webinar included speakers Gigi wik Gronvall, Paula Olsiewski, Richard Bruns, James Hodge, William Bahnfleth, Janet Handal, Seema Bhangar, Marwa aatari, and Janet Phoenix, there is also an entire team of contributing professionals who played a part in the Model IAQ Act document. The National Advisory Committee members also included: Thomas Burke, Leila Barrazza, Lawrence Gostin, Paloma Beamer, Georges Benjamin, Jose-Luis Jimenez, erry inney, Chris Pyke, Paul Locke, Jonathan Levy, Linsey Marr, Glenn Morrison, Alexandra Phelan, Lainie Rutkow, Jelena Srebric, Brent Stephens, Alice Yates, Leila Barraza, Tobie Bernstein, Ian Cull, Brian Gilligan, Abraham ulan- gara, enneth Martinez, Theresa Pistochini, and Angana Roy. A model law is a suggested example for an act or legislation, drafted to be suggested for enactment in multiple independent legislatures. It should help facilitate the review and amendment of existing legislation, as well as the adoption of new legisla- tion. The nited Nations often uses model laws. They define a model law as one that focuses on the "substantive obligations arising from the international treaties rather than the form, which ought to be tailor-made to the needs of each State." So, a model IAQ law for each state Yes. And yes, the pro- cess could get a little messy since each state will be able to consider their own wants and needs and, of course, politics.