Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has been treated as a health and labor issue by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rather than as an environmental issue. Considering that there is not much emphasis placed on the protection of the indoor environment as a whole, indoor air quality now seems to be making its mark as the new environmentalism. When people think about the environment they think about trees, oceans, lakes and other natural resources, but in an industrial society the indoor environment must be considered.

Indoor air quality problems have become widespread throughout the years; one out of every four buildings has indoor air pollution stressing the need for a solution. Statistics show that indoor air pollution is one of the four greatest threats to human health and indoor air can be 1000 times more polluted than outdoor air. The responsibility however, for the maintenance of indoor air quality is not under one particular agency but is scattered throughout many different government agencies. Among these agencies, the EPA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Energy (DOE), as well as the Office of Conservation and Renewable Energy (OCRE) are represented. Each of these agencies has a different approach to addressing indoor air quality however there is no significant evidence that shows that there is a workable solution to indoor air pollution within the last 20 years.

The biggest step that needs to be taken toward IAQ prevention is the uniting of all the agencies as one big committee to select the EPA as the main agency in charge of IAQ. This way they can be successful and assertive in addressing this ‘new' found environmentalism of indoor air pollution head on. Although this may seem unrealistic, considering that each agency has their own wants, the problem of IAQ is steadily increasing resulting in an increase of health problems over the nation. Differences between the agencies as a result need to be set aside and the EPA should take charge of addressing the problem of IAQ for the welfare of all Americans.