Estimating the sensory irritating potency of airborne nonreactive volatile organic chemicals and their mixtures.

This article describes the possibility of estimating whether or not a mixture of nonreactive volatile organic chemicals (NRVOC) is likely to elicit complaints of sensory irritation in humans. For this estimation we rely on: a) the sensory irritating potency of individual NRVOC can be estimated from a variety of physicochemical properties of these chemicals, b) at low exposure concentrations, the additivity rule can be applied using the potency of each chemical in a mixture and c) a threshold concentration exists below which no sensory irritation will occur. We used this estimating approach and we compared the results obtained with those obtained experimentally in humans exposed to a well defined mixture. The approach presented can be used to arrive at a decision as to whether or not exposure to a mixture of NRVOC is likely to result in sensory irritation complaints by humans, either in the general indoor air situation or for industrial workers.