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THE alarming rates of respiratory illnesses in the developing world would be
drastically cut if families adopted cleaner-burning stoves and fuels.

Switching to cheap, less polluting stoves and fuels such as charcoal would
slash exposure to indoor smoke by up to 90 per cent, says Daniel Kammen of the
University of California, Berkeley.

Nearly 2 billion people worldwide rely on fuels such as wood, charcoal and
dung to cook meals and heat their homes. Women cook in unventilated rooms over
stoves made of a few rocks or a metal can. Inhaling tiny particles in the smoke
called PM10s makes them more prone to pneumonia, tuberculosis and other
respiratory diseases.

The researchers studied 55 Kenyan families, measuring each person鈥檚 PM10
exposure in various parts of the home and outdoors, while nurses tallied the
cases of respiratory disease. 鈥淚t is a much stronger methodological approach
than has been done in the past,鈥� says John Spengler, of the Harvard School of
Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.

Frighteningly, peak exposure levels were 100 times greater than US
Environmental Protection Agency recommendations. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 inhale similar levels if
you put your head near a barbecue,鈥� says Kammen.

Switching to locally produced low-emission stoves reduced both PM10 exposure
and illness levels. Using charcoal reduced illness even more, but at the expense
of the environment. Making charcoal generates more greenhouse gases than burning
wood.

Controlled studies are needed, says Kirk Smith, a public health expert at the
University of California, Berkeley. He鈥檚 starting a 500-family study in
Guatemala where half the community will be given clean stoves, while the others
continue with their regular stoves.