[Stoves] blood analysis as heath impact certification for "clean" stoves

[Tom Miles]

Jay Smith and Kirk Smith seem to have conducted most health impact studies.  Both have emphasized the need for more study of health impacts. 

 

Ventilation has been part of the improved stoves discussion and testing for many years. It is not clear how often it has been implemented.  

 

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves doesn’t seem to support health impact studies focused on CO or PM, or at least I find no relevant studies or reports on their website.  

 

Jay Smith

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACN009.pdf Peru. PM and Co reductions measured. 

 

Kirk Smith

http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/ 

 

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves – Health

 <http://www.cleancookstoves.org/our-work/the-issues/health-impacts.html> http://www.cleancookstoves.org/our-work/the-issues/health-impacts.html

 <http://www.cleancookstoves.org/assets/rfps-and-rfas/working-group-recommendations.pdf> http://www.cleancookstoves.org/assets/rfps-and-rfas/working-group-recommendations.pdf 

 

Tom

 

From: Stoves [mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Crispin Pemberton-Pigott
Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2014 3:06 AM
To: stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Stoves] blood analysis as heath impact certification for "clean" stoves

 

 

 

Good questions and good answers. 

 

My observations are that CO is vaguely/reasonably related to PM during the ignition and fuel pyrolysation ‎stages. During the burn-out phase when char is smouldering the PM is low to zero and the CO can be very high, though not more than about 16% CO/CO2. 

 

Left to its own devices a carbon fire runs 12-16 per cent. The highest CO seen was always during a high fire low excess air condition when it can reach 40 per cent or more. The PM2.5 can be very high in that condition. 

 

Serum CO is a useful measure of exposure but it is not a good measure of the stove - only the stove-room ventilation as a combination or as a test of the ventilation. Dr KK Prasad (Eindhoven) did some modelling of stove emissions in standard rooms and found that the CO and smoke are not (at all) evenly distributed in a vented room. This is a further indication that a blood concentration s a poor measure of a stove. 

 

There is quite a mismatch between the metrics needed for human exposure and those needed for stove performance. 

 

I recommend caution when reading material on these subjects, making sure the metrics are relevant  to the claims being made. 

 

Ambient air pollution is obviously related to the stove, but human exposure is directly related to the system, not ‎just a major element of it. 

 

A study of the CO level in 'the home' found that the level 'in the kitchen' was pretty much the same as the rest of the house, but that is home-specific, and it does not mean the kitchen did not have high CO regions, or would not have. 

 

Personal exposure is best measured with a purpose-built meter and there are lots of them available for industrial workers, both gases and PM, because the work environment is heavily regulated. 

 

JF did you see the article on ventilation I linked the other day? For warm countries it is a sensible option. 

 

Regards 

Crispin heading for the Stove Expo in Langfang 

 

 

>Is CO content in the haemoglobin a good tracer for health impact?

Interesting question: the major health impact from unvented stoves is
perceived to be the long term effects of the smaller particulates, PM
10 and PM2.5, these tend to be products of poor secondary combustion
allowing carbon rings to form rather than burn out to CO2 and they
combine to form Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons  (things like benzo-a
pyrene one of the pernicious carcinogens associated with tobacco
smoking and lung cancer). 

These PACs in the particulates are particularly dangerous to the young
and growing.

So is there a direct relationship between PACs and CO concentration.

Is there a long term effect from exposure to low levels of CO, we see
people that stop smoking seem to have no long terms effects from CO
exposure.

AJH

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