A Silent Killer, article on Indoor Air Pollution

[Manoshi Goswami]

Invention of fire is probably the most significant event in the history of human civilization, which marked the beginning of a new era in the journey of human beings towards a better life. Use of fire in day-to-day activities helped the primitive man to go ahead towards an evolved life, and thus, fire became a part and parcel of our sociocultural life also.

Fire acts as a major source of energy for household activities to a large number of people around the world. We, the people of the Northeast and the entire country are not an exception. However, while enjoying the wide range of benefits derived from the use of fire, we always remain ignorant about the danger lying behind this wonderful thing. This is nothing but indoor air pollution. This silent killer has been grasping the lives of enormous number of children below the age of five and women together in the world, especially in the developing countries.

It is a well-known fact that 50 per cent of the world’s population and 90 per cent of the population from third world countries use biomass fuels like wood, bamboo, straw, crop residues and animal excreta as a source of energy. It is needless to say that this is mostly for lighting a fire. Women and children play the key role in gathering these fuels. Moreover, this group of people spend the maximum hours of a day in the kitchen while working and allied works are going on. This is particularly important as it leads to their exposure to the giant killing factor which is termed as ‘indoor air pollution’. To be precise, people from the lower economic classes or people below poverty line are the main victims of this pollution. This is because of the fact that they have no other options but to live in small houses without a proper ventilation system. Lack of proper ventillations in rooms, especially in the kitchens, increases the pollutant concentration in indoor air, which aggravates the harmful effect. In this content, we should not forget that such type of houses are most common in India.

The major causal factor of indoor air pollution is the incomplete combustion of biomass material in our traditional firestores (chullas) resulting noxius pollutants like carbon monoxide, particulate matter, smoke and different types of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. All of these have significantly harmful health effects.

Although this phenomenon of indoor air quality deterioration attacks every age group and sex, the effects are found to be considerably high among the women and children of age group below five years; the reason being their increased level of exposure. Research has revealed that a large percentage of pregnant women in rural India deliver babies with lesser birth weight and also dead babies, as a result of carbon monoxide pollution. This, can directly be attributed to indoor air pollution to a great extent.

Major health problems related to indoor air pollution are eye disorders like cataract, blindness, respiratory problems like asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer, coronary diseases, etc. According to a WHO report, smoke released from incomplete combustion of biomass fuel is a major death factor in underdeveloped nations. Indoor air pollutants like particulate matter, sulphur and nitrogen oxides result in decreased efficiency of immune system, impaired respiratory system as well as underdeveloped foetus in pregnant women, tuberculosis, etc.

But the astonishing fact is that due importance is not yet given to this dreaded problem that is claiming lives of a major portion of our population. Generally, malaria, AIDS and food security are recognized as the leading causes of death in third world nations. But now onwards, we have to remember that against 20 per cent of death toll from malaria, indoor air pollution accounts for 50 per cent of death in these nations.

Combating indoor air pollution is a serious concern as it is more or less dependent on the socioeconomic considerations of life. It is a bare truth that economic under development tends to result in use of lower grade fuels by the economically lower group of people. It is impossible to increase the use of cleaner fuels like LPG until their economic conditions are not uplifted. So, it requires an integrated effort from all parts of the society and the international community as a whole to counteract this evil.

Manoshi Goswami

http://www.assamtribune.com/oct1808/horizon1.html

[Nituparna Rajbongshi]

nice information.

[Rangasamygunasekaran]

Thanks for sharing very good information about A Silent Killer: Indoor air pollution!

[Yogesh W]

Thanks for sharing such information

 

[Manoshi Goswami]

Thanks to all who liked and gave their valuable comments. Really we need to increase awareness on IAP and you may share the post on your social networks for the same.

[GOPI KANTA GHOSH]

Absolutely right...we must find way to restrict this hazard

[Dr.Santosh kumar Sahoo]

Manoshi thanks to u  express what is real fact towards the biomass fuel lead to indoor pollution,and  its impact on human health.

[S.P.ANANDAN]

Valuable information. People should be educated on this evil through awareness programs.

[Dripto Mukhopadhyay]

Thanks Manoshi for sharing facts related to indoor pollution. This is time that we make people aware about the consequences of their activities and the measures to mitigate them. This is especially true for those unfortunates in India and many other developing countries, who do not have any idea of problem they are causing for themselves that can be mitigated easily without much investments. I believe that civil societies can play crucial role in bringing about awareness regarding this.

Thanks again for a lovely article.

 

[Nity Nishant]

good information