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| Sunday, 12 December 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Killer in the kitchen by Shanika Sriyananda After suffering for more than ten years from severe cough and breathing difficulties, Magi Nona died a few months ago. She was 75 years old and had spent 50 of those years cooped up in a kitchen, puffing at a smoky stove to literally keep the home fires burning.
She was in the business of making kadayappam (preparing string hoppers and hoppers). A few years ago she handed over all her utensils to her daughter Premawathi who had been helping her since childhood. Premawathi also suffers from frequent coughs, has breathing difficulties and has also been diagnosed as having cataract. And now it's her daughter, Sirimallee's turn. She helps Premawathi to prepare kadayappam to meet the daily expenses. Their meagre earnings are not enough to get treatment for their sickness. Sirimallee (23), also spends nearly 12-hours in the kitchen helping and learning the art of preparing kadayappam. Signs of the same sickness - asthma - suffered by her mother and grandmother are now slowly appearing in her. These women, who belong to three generations, are not aware that their means to an income passed down from mother to daughter is slowly killing them. And the murder weapon is the smoke in their tiny kitchen that contains - Carbon monoxide, Particulate Matter, Benzene and several other carcinogens. And it's not only them. Many rural and urban women are also facing similar dangers as they are unaware that prolonged exposure to smoke emitting from the customary three stone open fire stoves in their kitchens can make them victims of asthma, cancer, lung diseases and cataract. Indoor air pollution is one major cause for many health problems in many third world countries among poor women, children and the old. The seriousness of the pollution has now captured the attention of governments, health authorities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have also given serious attention to this matter, by identifying it as one of the major causes of death and disease in the world's poorest countries. Though indoor air pollution remains a silent and unreported killer, the thick acrid smoke rising from stoves and fires inside homes kill nearly 1.6 million people annually in developing countries. It is estimated that one human being dies every 20 seconds by the 'killer' in the kitchen. According to WHO, nearly half of the world still cook with solid fuels such as dung, wood, agricultural residues and coal. Smoke from burning these fuels gives off a poisonous cocktail of particles and chemicals and people run the risk of getting respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and pneumonia. The indoor concentration of health-damaging pollutants from a typical wood-fired cooking stove creates carbon monoxide and other noxious fumes. The WHO studies show that the levels of smoke rural women and their children are subjected to in their homes far exceed international safety standards. And the World Energy Assessment estimates that the amount of smoke from these fires is the equivalent of consuming two packs of cigarettes a day. Meanwhile, recent studies done by Sri Lankan experts highlight the need to pay serious attention to tackle indoor air pollution, as over 80 per cent of the country's population still depend on fuel wood for cooking. The researches found that the number of people vulnerable to respiratory diseases, cancers, eye infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, tuberculosis, cataract and asthma will be doubled in the future mainly due to excessive use of low quality biomass fuels in inefficient traditional cooking stoves with no flue or chimney to disperse the smokes, particulate, carbon monoxide and several carcinogens in poorly ventilated kitchens in middle and lower class houses in the country. A study carried out by Prof. Manori Senanayake, Department of Paediatrics, University of Colombo in 2003 revealed indoor air in lower middle class homes in five areas including Fort, Maradana, Borella, Kirulapona, Mattakkuliya to be more polluted than the outdoor air. And children, the sick and old people, who spend more hours of the day inside the houses to be more susceptible to 'bad' indoor air. "The main objectives of the research were to assess the indoor and outdoor concentration of oxides of nitrogen, children's exposure to oxides - nitrogen and sulphur dioxide and to find out daily activity patterns of children", said Prof Senanayake adding that the type of fuel and stove used in cooking and ventilation in these houses were also taken into consideration in the study. The research found that out of the total number of houses in the six locations, where passive air filter badges were clipped onto the children's clothes and similar badges placed within the living area of each home and outside the home, only 7 per cent of the home were adequately ventilated. " All badges were exposed for a period of 48 hours and we found that the air filter badges clipped on children, who spend more hours indoor, are more exposed to pollutants than the badges outdoors", Prof. Senanayake added. According to the study, 38 per cent of these houses were polluted due to tobacco smoking by parents and 14 per cent due to firewood for cooking while 28 per cent to kerosene. "These children had spent 41 of the 48 hours indoors and the average time spent outdoors was only 6.7 per cent hours on weekends. Statistics on activity patterns of these children subjected to the research show the need for attention to indoor air", she pointed out. Meanwhile, several research papers were presented at the first national symposium on 'Air Resources Management in Sri Lanka' organised by Air Resource Management Centre of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources together with the USAID-USAEP, held last week, highlighting the need for serious concern to combat indoor air pollution, which is the 'silent killer' in most of the low income dwellings. "Most people are not aware that numerous air pollutants are existing in their homes. But pollutants generated from the indoors and pollutants filtering in from outdoors are entrapped into limited air in the houses. The risk is further aggravated because people spend much of their time indoor with limited air exchange", Dr. K.R.R. Mahanama, Senior lecturer of the Department of Chemistry, Colombo University said. According to Dr. Mahanama, fuel wood is still the major indigenous energy source accounting for 53 per cent of the total energy consumption and out of the total biomass energy supply, the household sector consumed 76 per cent, while 80 per cent of the population still relies on the unprocessed fuel wood for cooking. " Efficiency of the customary three-stone open fires is less than 15 per cent. It has been estimated that unprocessed solid biomass fuels release at least 50 times more noxious pollutants than gaseous fuels. As women are traditionally involved in food preparation and cooking and children and infants are in the company of their mothers in the smoke filled kitchens for long hours they are vulnerable to respiratory diseases", he said adding that as the immune system of infants are not fully developed, their small airways are more susceptible to the effects of inflammation and young children with developing lungs breathe faster than adults and increase the intake of pollutants. However, according to Dr. Mahanama, though the handful of investigations done by few researchers are not fully sufficient to find a possible relationship between the indoor air and health problems in the country, a survey conducted in the respiratory unit of Kandy Hospital found that cooking smoke was a possible contributing factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among Sri Lankan women. " Another survey, where children and women from 397 low-income families in suburban Colombo were interviewed for a period of six months, identified inadequate ventilation in the sleeping area and the use of fuel wood for cooking as risk factors, and found that 49 per cent of women over 40 years and 31 per cent children below 10-years had at least one recurrent respiratory symptoms", he pointed out. "Modifying housing to increase ventilation is another solution to disperse smoke from indoors and it is advisable to keep children away from the fire and smoke to reduce children's exposure to pollutants", Dr. Mahanama said. He suggested encouraging the use of outdoor cooking, as in early days, where there was a separate kitchen to minimise indoor pollution levels. "Changing the habitual cooking practices, where Sri Lankan housewives tend to cook all three meals, spending long hours in kitchens, can also reduce the prolong exposure. Introduction of quick food preparation techniques and preserving the food for several meals will also curtail the time spent near cooking stoves", he pointed out adding that simple interventions like drying wood before burning, cutting into smaller pieces and extinguishing the fire immediately after use can also reduce emission to a greater extent. He said that installation of chimneys to release the pollutants above breathing level would also minimise the exposure. The only remedy for existing houses to dilute the polluted indoor air he said was to put a window above the cooking stove and to provide cross ventilation through the door. Meanwhile, studies by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, reveal that indoor air is not only another health problem of the poor but a problem of the urbanites who work and live in ill-ventilated, air conditioned buildings and offices and housing complexes, as well. Dr. Mahanama stressed the need for governmental and non-governmental organisations to educate people about their exposures to carcinogens during cooking. "The most important step in prevention of these health problems is to educate the public. This should be initiated at school levels. It is not a difficult task to educate the public about the risks associated with indoor air pollution as Sri Lanka has a high literacy rate", he added. According to Dr. Mahanama, architects and other professionals who are directly involved in housing industry can also play a significant role in improving the ventilation practices and designing improved stove systems. "We need a collective efforts to free the outdoor and indoor air from chemicals. Scientists can research on fuels that have greater efficiencies and low emissions", he opined. Coir to the rescue by Chanuka Mannapperuma Eco-Protect Engineering in collaboration with Messrs Coco Technologies Corporation - a leading erosion control specialists in the Philippines have joined hands to set up Eco-friendly Soil Erosion Control Systems using coir products. Speaking at a Seminar on 'Erosion Control in Sri Lanka' using coir based Geo-Textile, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources A. H. M. Fowzie said there was an urgent need for an eco-friendly system to control for erosion of road embankments, exposed slopes, stream or rivers and other slopes and to minimise silting of lake bunts and other reservoirs. As far as the environment is concerned, slope protection is very important as otherwise it could result in earth-slips which may destabilise the business environment, the Minister said. "In this context I am happy that the private sector has come forward to introduce an Eco-friendly erosion control system", he added. Coir is a product which is locally available and is used in the cottage industry without generating chemical waste and green house gases. Coir erosion controlled products are made in Sri Lanka and exported for erosion control purposes in other countries, while our slopes are basically left unprotected, he said. This venture would not only ensure technology transfer but also value addition to the local coir products which is a prime requirement identified in our government budget, the Minister added. President - Coco Technologies Corporation, Philippines Dr. Justino Arboleda said a small concrete construction cost minimum US$ 40 while coir protection would cost US$ 3.He said the demand for coir based products were increasing and since Sri Lanka had a strong agri-based economy, more emphasis should be given to develop this area. He also pointed out that no local company either in the public sector or the private sector used coir based products for soil erosion conservation and said that at the moment his company was exporting their products to Korea and Japan." Sri Lanka would accrue more benefits from coir product raw materials available, because that can reduce the cost of raw materials, Eco friendly and products are cheep. Those coir products could be used for places especially in areas subjected to soil erosions. Make the season environment friendly Christmas and New Year are just a few days away and all are busy planning to celebrate these events in a special way. Beautifully wrapped gifts and glittery home decorations are part of the festive specialities. But, while contemplating your gifts and home decorations, think how these activities can make an impact on the environment. Look at the ways that you can enjoy the season while minimising the damage to the environs that you live in. Here are some tips: * A large number of christmas trees are cut during the season. If you truly want to conserve the forest cover, think of a living, potted Christmas tree this season. After the season you can plant it outside or donate it to a park. On the other hand small, potted christmas trees can be kept in their pots and used again next year. If you want to buy an artificial tree, make sure that it is not made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC). * Christmas, new year and holiday means lots of lights and the energy consumption is very high during the season. Always try to remember to switch off the unwanted lights. Make sure that every light in your house is switched off before you go to bed. Try to use low energy consuming bulbs to save the electricity during the season. * Use natural decorations - gingerbread cookies, popcorn strings, candy canes and cinnamon sticks are a great alternative to store bought variety and a fun project for young children. * When purchasing presents, avoid products that are heavily packaged, made from PVC or from tropical wood, such as mahogany. * Try to cut back on your use of paper. The holiday season contributes more to landfills than any other time of year. * Send e-cards to friends, reuse last year's wrapping paper, and write names directly on the wrapped gifts. * Remember to save this year's paper too! When entertaining, avoid using disposable cups, plates, utensils and napkins. If you must use disposable, always choose recycled paper products. * Last, but not least, if you are looking for a gift for that special someone who has everything, consider a gift that is more environmentally friendly! |
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