Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
have led investigators to conclude that biomass cooking is a substantial risk
factor for COLD, on the order of 2 to 4 times greater than for those not
exposed. In Nepal, 15% of nonsmoking women who are 20 years old or older
are reported to experience chronic bronchitis, a chronic obstructive lung
disease. In China, COLD is associated with long-term exposure to coal smoke
from cooking fires.
Cor pulmonale, a form of heart disease that develops secondary to
chronic lung disease, occurs more frequently among biomass cooking fuel-
using, nonsmoking women in India and Nepal. It is also reported to occur
at an earlier age than is normally the case.
Exposure to biomass fuel emissions is reported to be equivalent to smok-
ing several packs of cigarettes per day. Because of its high benzo-
-pyrene
and other PAH concentrations, those exposed to high levels of biomass fuel
smoke would be expected to be at high risk of developing lung cancer.
Extrapolations from animal studies also suggest that lung cancer should be
common among exposed individuals. Despite these facts, lung cancer among
nonsmokers in biomass fuel-using areas is rare. On the other hand, greater
lung cancer risk among women in China using coal for cooking has been
well established.
Several studies have suggested a link between biomass cooking and
increased risk of developing tuberculosis. This link is suggested to be related
to suppression of pulmonary immune defense mechanisms by components
of wood smoke such as benzo-
α
α
-pyrene.
Readings
Coultas, D.B. and Lambert, W.E., Carbon monoxide, in
Indoor Air Pollution: A Health
Perspective
, Samet, J.M. and Spengler, J.D., Eds., Johns Hopkins University Press,
Baltimore, 1991, 187.
Department of Energy,
Indoor Air Quality Environmental Information Handbook: Com-
bustion Sources,
DOE/EV/10450-1, Washington, D.C., 1985.
Dockery, D.W., Environmental tobacco smoke and lung cancer: Environmental smoke
screen, in
Indoor Air and Human Health,
2nd ed., Gammage, R.B. and Berven,
B.A., CRC Press/Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, 1996, 309.
Marbury, M.C., Wood smoke, in
Indoor Air Pollution: A Health Perspective
, Samet, J.M.
and Spengler, J.D., Eds., Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1991, 209.
Maroni, M., Siefert, B., and Lindvall, T.,
Indoor Air Quality. A Comprehensive Reference
Book
, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995, chaps. 1, 4, 17.
National Research Council,
Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Measuring Exposures and
Assessing Health Effects
, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1986.
Samet, J., Nitrogen dioxide, in
Indoor Air Pollution: A Health Perspective
, Samet, J.M.
and Spengler, J.D., Eds., Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1991, 170.
Samet, J.M., Cain, W.S., and Leaderer, B.P., Environmental tobacco smoke, in
Indoor
Air Pollution: A Health Perspective
, Samet, J.M. and Spengler, J.D., Eds., Johns
Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1991, 131.
Smith, K.R., Fuel combustion, air pollution exposure, and health: the situation in
developing countries,
Ann. Rev. Energy Environ.,
18, 529, 1993.
