Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Household Air Pollution from Cookstoves: Impacts on Health and Climate

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Global Climate Change and Public Health

Part of the book series: Respiratory Medicine ((RM,volume 7))

Abstract

Household air pollution (HAP) is an exposure of poverty. The success in having a sustainable reduction in HAP requires an understanding of the traditions and culture of the family as well as the causes of poverty that place the family at the bottom of the energy ladder. An integrated approach to reducing HAP with efforts also aimed at correcting other poverty-related issues is challenging but offers the hope for addressing root causes of poverty in a community setting that provides a more comprehensive and sustainable approach to improving health, the environment, and, ultimately, the global climate. From one perspective, research that provides detailed exposure-responses to HAP may seem superfluous to the obvious need for poor families to breathe cleaner air at home. One can argue that we already have decades of information on the health risks from outdoor air pollution or the products of incomplete combustion from tobacco smoke and so further research is not needed. However, there is a compelling need to know how clean a stove or fuel must be to significantly reduce health risks, so that with proper use, major implementation of such new technology may reasonably provide the intended benefits for improved health, the regional environment, and the global climate. The alternative of providing electrification or use of clean fuels such as LPG may not be realistic for the world’s poor for decades to come, if ever. Addressing the key scientific gaps related to HAP and its reduction will provide critical new information that can inform large scale implementation programs to provide sufficiently clean household air for families living in poverty, such that diseases are prevented, a healthier lifestyle is promoted, and a reduction in global warming trends buys more time for a planet in peril from climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Martin II WJ, Glass RI, Balbus JM, Collins FS. A major environmental cause of death. Science. 2011;334(6053):180.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Quantifying environmental health impacts: global estimates of burden of disease caused by environmental risks. Geneva: WHO. 2009. www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/global/globalair2004/en/index.html

  3. Lim SS, Vos T, Flaxman AD, et al. A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden Of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2012;380:2224–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Household cookstoves, environment, health and climate change: a new look at an old problem (63217, Washington, DC: World Bank). 2011. http://climatechange.worldbank.org/climatechange/content/cookstoves-report

  5. US Climate Change Science Program. Climate projections based on emissions scenarios for long-lived and short-lived radiatively active gases and aerosols. 2008. http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-2/final-report/#finalreport

  6. Calvin WH. The ascent of mind: ice age climates and the evolution of intelligence. New York: Bantam; 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Patrick E. Sexual violence and firewood collection in Darfur. Forced Migr Rev. 2007;27:40–1.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Damberger D. Ted lecture: what happens when an NGO admits failure. 2011. http://www.ted.com/talks/david_damberger_what_happens_when_an_ngo_admits_failure.html

  9. Winiarski L. Design principles for wood burning cook stoves. Aprovecho Research Center, Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA), Shell Foundation. 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ramakrishna J, Durgaprasad MB, Smith KR. Cooking in India: the impact of improved stoves on indoor air quality. Environ Int. 1989;15(1–6):341–52.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Sinton JE, Smith KR, Peabody JW, et al. An assessment of programs to promote improved household stoves in China. Energy Sustain Dev. 2004;8(3):33–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Venkataraman C, Sagar AD, Habib G, Lam N, Smith KR. The Indian national initiative for advanced biomass cookstoves: the benefits of clean combustion. Energy Sustain Dev. 2010;14(2):63–72.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Partnership for clean indoor air. Test results of cook stove performance. 2010. http://www.pciaonline.org/files/Test-Results-Cookstove-Performance.pdf. Accessed 27 Jan 2012.

  14. MacCarty N, Still D, Ogle D. Fuel use and emissions performance of fifty cooking stoves in the laboratory and related benchmarks of performance. Energy Sustain Dev. 2010;14(3):161–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Agency; USEP. PM2.5 NAAQS implementation. 2008. http://www.epa.gov/ttnnaaqs/pm/pm25_index.html. Accessed 27 Jan 2012.

  16. Ostro B, Lipsett M, Reynolds P, et al. Long-term exposure to constituents of fine particulate air pollution and mortality: results from the California Teachers Study. Environ Health Perspect. 2010;118(3):363–9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Kituyi E, Marufu L, Wandiga SO, Jumba IO, Andreae MO, Helas G. Carbon monoxide and nitric oxide from biofuel fires in Kenya. Energy Convers Manag. 2001;42(13):1517–42.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Jetter JJ, Kariher P. Solid-fuel household cook stoves: characterization of performance and emissions. Biomass Bioenergy. 2009;33(2):294–305.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Berkeley Air Monitoring Group. Protecting health and climate. 2011. http://berkeleyair.com/. Accessed 27 Jan 2012.

  20. Hosgood 3rd HD, Boffetta P, Greenland S, et al. In-home coal and wood use and lung cancer risk: a pooled analysis of the International Lung Cancer Consortium. Environ Health Perspect. 2010;118(12):1743–7.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Balakrishnan K, Sambandam S, Ramaswamy P, Mehta S, Smith KR. Exposure assessment for respirable particulates associated with household fuel use in rural districts of Andhra Pradesh, India. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol. 2004;14 Suppl 1:S14–25.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. The Health Effects Institute. Outdoor air pollution and health in the developing countries of Asia: a comprehensive review. Special report 18. 2010. http://pubs.healtheffects.org/view.php?id=349. Accessed 27 Jan 2012.

  23. Martin WJ, Glass RI, Araj H, et al. Household air pollution in low- and middle-income countries: health risks and research priorities. PLoS Med. 2013;10:e1001455.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Peck MD, Kruger GE, van der Merwe AE, Godakumbura W, Ahuja RB. Burns and fires from non-electric domestic appliances in low and middle income countries. Part I. The scope of the problem. Burns. 2008;34(3):303–11.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Smith KR, Samet JM, Romieu I, Bruce N. Indoor air pollution in developing countries and acute lower respiratory infections in children. Thorax. 2000;55(6):518–32.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Eisner MD, Anthonisen N, Coultas D, et al. An official American Thoracic Society public policy statement: novel risk factors and the global burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010;182(5):693–718.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Romieu I, Moreno-Macias H, London SJ. Gene by environment interaction and ambient air pollution. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2010;7(2):116–22.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Mordukhovich I, Wilker E, Suh H, et al. Black carbon exposure, oxidative stress genes, and blood pressure in a repeated-measures study. Environ Health Perspect. 2009;117(11):1767–72.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Risom L, Moller P, Loft S. Oxidative stress-induced DNA damage by particulate air pollution. Mutat Res. 2005;592(1–2):119–37.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Rubes J, Rybar R, Prinosilova P, et al. Genetic polymorphisms influence the susceptibility of men to sperm DNA damage associated with exposure to air pollution. Mutat Res. 2010;683(1–2):9–15.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Hoxha M, Dioni L, Bonzini M, et al. Association between leukocyte telomere shortening and exposure to traffic pollution: a cross-sectional study on traffic officers and indoor office workers. Environ Health. 2009;8:41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Baccarelli A, Wright RO, Bollati V, et al. Rapid DNA methylation changes after exposure to traffic particles. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2009;179(7):572–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Tarantini L, Bonzini M, Apostoli P, et al. Effects of particulate matter on genomic DNA methylation content and iNOS promoter methylation. Environ Health Perspect. 2009;117(2):217–22.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Wilker EH, Baccarelli A, Suh H, Vokonas P, Wright RO, Schwartz J. Black carbon exposures, blood pressure, and interactions with single nucleotide polymorphisms in MicroRNA processing genes. Environ Health Perspect. 2010;118(7):943–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Madrigano J, Baccarelli A, Mittleman MA, et al. Prolonged exposure to particulate pollution, genes associated with glutathione pathways, and DNA methylation in a cohort of older men. Environ Health Perspect. 2011;119(7):977–82.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Breton CV, Byun HM, Wenten M, Pan F, Yang A, Gilliland FD. Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure affects global and gene-specific DNA methylation. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2009;180(5):462–7.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Hanson M, Godfrey KM, Lillycrop KA, Burdge GC, Gluckman PD. Developmental plasticity and developmental origins of non-communicable disease: theoretical considerations and epigenetic mechanisms. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2011;106(1):272–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. World Health Organization. WHO air quality guidelines for particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Global update 2005. Summary of risk assessment. Geneva: WHO. 2005. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2006/WHO_SDE_PHE_OEH_06.02_eng.pdf

  39. World Health Organization. Fuel for life: household energy and health. Geneva: WHO; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  40. World Health Organization. Indoor air pollution: national burden of disease estimates. Geneva: WHO. 2007. http://www.who.int/indoorair/publications/indoor_air_national_burden_estimate_revised.pdf. Accessed 3 Feb 2012.

  41. Bell ML, Davis DL. Reassessment of the lethal London fog of 1952: novel indicators of acute and chronic consequences of acute exposure to air pollution. Environ Health Perspect. 2001;109 Suppl 3:389–94.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Ramanathan V, Feng Y. On avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system: formidable challenges ahead. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008;105(38):14245–50.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. United Nations Environment Programme. Integrated assessment of black carbon and tropospheric ozone: summary for decision makers. 2011. http://www.unep.org/dewa/Portals/67/pdf/Black_Carbon.pdf. Accessed 30 Jan 2012.

  44. Ramanathan V, Xu Y. The Copenhagen accord for limiting global warming: criteria, constraints, and available avenues. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010;107(18):8055–62.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Shindell D, et al. Simultaneously mitigating near-term climate change and improving human health and food security. Science. 2012;335:183–9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Ramanathan V, Carmichael G. Global and regional climate changes due to black carbon. Nat Geosci. 2008;1(4):221–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Ajai LB, Breashears D, Crutzen PJ, Fuzzi S, Haeberli W, Immerzeel WW, Kaser G, Kennel C, Kulkarni A, Pachauri R, Painter TH, Rabassa J, Ramanathan V, Robock A, Rubbia C, Russell L, Sánchez Sorondo M, Schellnhuber HJ, Sorooshian S, Stocker TF, Thompson LG, Toon OB, Zaelke D. Fate of mountain glaciers in the Anthropocene. Vatican City: Pontifical Academy of Sciences; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Smith KR, McCracken JP, Weber MW, et al. Effect of reduction in household air pollution on childhood pneumonia in Guatemala (RESPIRE): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2011;378(9804):1717–26.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Smith KR, Rogers J, Cowlin SC. Household fuels and ill-health in developing countries: what improvements can be brought by LP gas? Paris: World LP Gas Association and Intermediate Technology Development Group; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Po JY, FitzGerald JM, Carlsten C. Respiratory disease associated with solid biomass fuel exposure in rural women and children: systematic review and meta-analysis. Thorax. 2011;66(3):232–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Ruiz-Mercado I, Lam N, Canuz E, Davila G, Smith KR. Low-cost temperature data loggers as Stove Use Monitors (SUMs). Boiling Point. 2008;55:16–8.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Ramanathan V, Balakrishnan K. Project Surya: Reduction of air pollution and global warming by cooking with renewable sources—a controlled and practical experiment in rural India: a white paper. http://ramanathan.ucsd.edu/files/SuryaWhitePaper.pdf (2007). Accessed 30 Jan 2012.

  53. Flanner MG, Zender CS, Hess PG, et al. Springtime warming and reduced snow cover from carbonaceous particles. Atmos Chem Phys Discuss. 2008;8(6):19819–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Ramanathan V, Chung C, Kim D, et al. Atmospheric brown clouds: impacts on South Asian climate and hydrological cycle. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2005;102(15):5326–33.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Meehl GA, Arblaster JM, Collins WD. Effects of black carbon aerosols on the Indian monsoon. J Climate. 2008;21(12):2869–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Auffhammer M, Ramanathan V, Vincent JR. Integrated model shows that atmospheric brown clouds and greenhouse gases have reduced rice harvests in India. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2006;103(52):19668–72.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Ramanathan V, Ramanathan N. An unprecedented opportunity. Our Planet. 2011:28–29. http://www.unep.org/pdf/op_dec_2011/EN/OP-2011-12-EN-ARTICLE8.pdf. Accessed 1 Feb 2012.

  58. Rehman IH, Ahmed T, Praveen PS, Kar A, Ramanathan V. Black carbon emissions from biomass and fossil fuels in rural India. Atmos Chem Phys. 2011;11(14):7289–99.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. Kar A, Siva P, Suresh R, Rehman IH, Singh L, Singh VK, Ahmed T, Burney J, Ramanathan N, Ramanathan V. Real-time assessment of black carbon pollution in Indian households due to traditional and improved biomass cook stoves. Environ Sci Technol. 2012;46:2993–3000.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Ramanathan N, Lukac M, Ahmed T, et al. A cellphone based system for large-scale monitoring of black carbon. Atmos Environ. 2011;45(26):4481–7. Atmos Environ. 2011;45(39):7536.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Praveen PS, Ahmed T, Kar A, Rehman IH, Ramanathan V. Link between local scale BC emissions and large scale atmospheric solar absorption. Atmos Chem Phys Discuss. 2011;11(7):21319–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Ramanathan V. Greenhouse effect due to chlorofluorocarbons: climatic implications. Science. 1975;190(4209):50–2.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. Bodereau PN. Peruvian highlands, fume-free. Science. 2011;334(6053):157.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Pope 3rd CA, Burnett RT, Thun MJ, et al. Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. JAMA. 2002;287(9):1132–41.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How tobacco smoke causes disease. In: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services CfDCaP, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, editors. The biology and behavioral basis for smoking-attributable disease: a report of the surgeon general. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported [in part] by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (W.J.M.). Support is provided by NIH grants ES016126, ES020426, AI081672 and the Duke Provost’s Fund, which support the Duke Cookstove Initiative (to J.W.H.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, 31 Center Drive, Building 31, Room 2A32, MSC 2425, Bethesda, MD, 20892-2425, USA

    William J. Martin II M.D.

  2. Department of Medicine and Immunology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    John W. Hollingsworth M.D.

  3. Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 8622 Kennel Way, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA

    Veerabhadran Ramanathan M.S., Ph.D.

  4. University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Veerabhadran Ramanathan M.S., Ph.D.

Authors
  1. William J. Martin II M.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John W. Hollingsworth M.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Veerabhadran Ramanathan M.S., Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William J. Martin II M.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. John Muir Institute of the Environment University of California, Dept. of Pediatrics, School of Medicine Center for Health & the Environment, Davis, California, USA

    Kent E. Pinkerton

  2. and Environmental Medicine New York University School of Medicine, Div. of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine; Depts. of Medicine,, New York, New York, USA

    William N. Rom

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Martin, W.J., Hollingsworth, J.W., Ramanathan, V. (2014). Household Air Pollution from Cookstoves: Impacts on Health and Climate. In: Pinkerton, K., Rom, W. (eds) Global Climate Change and Public Health. Respiratory Medicine, vol 7. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8417-2_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8417-2_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-8416-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-8417-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation