Biomass fuel combustion and health*

The present review, however, is directed at the opposite situation: rural agricultural communities in the developing countries, where biomass is the principal fuel and where both income and energy consumption are among the lowest in the world. [...] Nearly all the particles are below 3 gm in diameter and thus can be considered to be respirable, i.e., able to penetrate and be deposited deep in the lung.' HEALTH EFFECTS Acute effects on health are the result of smoke inhalation and of carbon monoxide poisoning; both are life-threatening and cause rapid death if sufficient concentrations occur in the respired air. [...] Subacute effects are the result of the irritant or inflammatory action of the pollutants on the conjunctiva and the mucous linings of the respiratory tract C SMITH, K. K. ET AL. [...] In Kenya, carcinoma of the nasopharynx (NPC) occurs more commonly among populations in the highlands where cooking is done indoors because of the cool damp climate than in populations in the hotter areas where food is cooked out of doors (20). [...] It is important to emphasize the fact that the health problems described in the above paragraphs, may not be at all representative of the true prevalence of health problems in these settings or in the world as a whole.