Indoor Air Pollution Puts Heart at Risk


One keeps on reading about the damaging effects of atmospheric pollution but what about the airy fumes inside your homes? Aren’t they toxic enough? Well not toxic but overexposure to them can lead to heart and lung diseases just as exposure to air pollution outside the home can prove dangerous to the health of a person.

Indoor air pollution is a result of biomass fuels used in the house expecially for cooking in unvented kitchens. According to a new study published in the Journal Environmental Health Perspectives, conducted by the researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison (US), indoor air pollution and gathering of air fumes especially inside the kitchen can prove to be very dangerous for the individual present there. There may be death in extreme cases too.

Women who spend a long time cooking and have prolonged exposure to smoke fumes as a result of working on the stove or fire are extremely vulnerable to disease of the lung or heart. The study was conducted on 280 women from a remote area of Yunan Province in China who were found to breathe in high levels of air pollutants either due to the smoke of the stove or of the fire burning to keep the temperature down.

These dangers can be combated by using cleaner fuels and better stoves which can considerably reduce the threat and danger to the one who works in the kitchen. Such methods are more often found in rural areas where ther are no resources and tough climatic conditions.

Posted in: Health

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