[Stoves] We're Actually Using More Fossil Fuels Than Ever (Philip Lloyd)

Andrew Heggie aj.heggie at gmail.com
Thu Jul 21 01:33:37 CDT 2016


On 21 July 2016 at 03:26, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott
<crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:

>
> The global burden of disease  (GBD) is a complicated series of estimations
> applied to populations and the inclusion of smoke from domestic stoves is
> necessary in that. What is really odd is the ease with which 'shortened
> lives' are turned into 'deaths caused by stove smoke. This error needs
> correction.
>
> A 'premature death' is not a death, it is a shortened life. In a recent
> article that appeared in an LPG industry newsletter, the oft-cited ‎"4.3m
> premature deaths attributed to domestic stove smoke" was referred to as 4.3m
> deaths caused by stove smoke. That is a heck of a difference. The first is a
> modeled population impact and the second is a long line of bodies with
> 'stove smoke' penned on the 'cause of death' line.

Yes I agree that putting a number on "saving lives" needs  viewing
with some circumspection, in my world we are seeing large increases in
life expectancy attributed to good food and health care as well as
reduction in things like smoking. At the same time as people live
longer they stand more chance of developing cancers but is this only
age related or are we now exposed to more carcinogens  yet this is
masked by the overall trend for longer life.

The effects of airborne particles should be seen in my population as
well as those exposed to wood smoke as diesel use has risen
consistently.

Yet problems with airborne pollution have previously been addressed by
stopping the manufacture of  chlorinated fluorocarbons (and apparently
the ozone hole is healing as a result) and the use of tetra ethyl lead
in petrol, are we seeing any significant results from that yet? I
would have expected that to be immediate and dramatic in urban
children.

How does one compare the early death of some senior citizens  from
exposure to ionising radiation from an increase in background
radiation with the death of a child from acute respiratory disease
exasperated by being carried  whilst mum tens a smoky fire.

Andrew




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