What are 'VOCs'?

What are 'VOCs'?

Volatile Organic Chemicals, or VOCs, are in many consumer products. The reason that we're concerned about them is that they leave the product an off-gas, becoming part of the indoor air. They're actually gases that we're breathing in and in some cases they can be similar to what you'd find in an industrial environment. Some industrial chemicals have found their way into our consumer products and will off-gas when we're using adhesives, when we're using sealants like caulking agents around the bathtub and in the kitchen, and when we're using things to coat our wood. For example, furniture wax is about 50% petroleum hydrocarbon-based and will off-gas into our breathing zone things that you would thnk you would only get exposed to in a gas station. But yet, we're bringing these compounds directly into our home environment whenever we are coating the furniture, even with furniture polish. Furniture polish is about 20% lighter fluid. We're breathing in these VOCs that are off-gassing off of products that are meant to coat our furniture, but to create that nice shiny coating on our furniture they have to release these gases so they get a nice, hard finish.