Five Things to Know About Indoor Air Pollution
1. In the developing world, indoor air pollution is a rural problem, not an urban problem. It results primarily from cooking smoke emitted by indoor stoves or open fires that burn solid fuels. Solid fuels include coal, crop residues, wood, and dung. Burning biomass like crops and dung causes fewer health impacts than coal.
2. Cooking smoke can contain a whole range of ugly stuff, including small particles, carbon monoxide, toxic hydrocarbons, formaldehyde, benzene, and nitrogen and sulfur oxides. Women, as primary cooks in most households, bear the brunt of the exposure to these toxins.
3. According to the WHO's world health report 2002, indoor air pollution causes 2.7% of the global burden of disease. There are 23 countries in which indoor air pollution causes 10% of deaths. The health effects of indoor air pollution include acute respiratory infections, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, cataracts, tuberculosis, and bad pregnancy outcomes.
4. Reducing indoor air pollution generally focuses on moving the polluted air outside, through improved ventilation and improved stoves. This improves the health of the residents of a given house, but better venting contributes to outdoor air pollution. In some cases, venting all houses would lead to a toxic outdoor environment.
5. Solar cookers are often discussed as a solution that doesn't just move the toxins from inside to outside. However, people are very resistant to learning a whole new way of cooking, and food tastes different from a solar cooker.
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