The move towards more energy efficient and tighter buildings might lead to increased consumer exposure to the thousands of chemicals embedded in building materials.

This seminar will present new high throughput methods to characterize the population exposure to tens of thousands chemical-product combinations used in building materials and cleaning products, using method of lines and other modeling approaches.

We demonstrate the application of these tools via a comparison of potential human health impacts associated with different alternatives to phthalates (DEHP) as plasticizer in vinyl flooring over its life cycle.

We will also shortly look at an advanced tool presently developed for modelling both chemicals mass balance and energy balance, and how it can inform building and ventilation design and strategies.

We finally discuss how this works, and provide a scientific basis for the international management of chemical in products in a life cycle perspective, in the frame of the UN environment Global Chemical Outlook II.