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Source: Down To Earth
What is the News?
Researchers from the University of Oxford and the Chinese Academy of Medical Science have conducted a study to understand the association between cooking with wood or coal and an increased risk of substantial eye diseases leading to blindness.
Key Findings of the Study:
- Burning solid fuels such as coal and wood for cooking can cause damage to the eyes and cause blindness.
- The very small particles released with the fumes can penetrate the eyes and cause physical interior damage.
- Long-term use of solid fuels for cooking can heighten the risk of conjunctivitis and cataracts by 32% and 17%, respectively.
- However, the risks were lower when participants switched from using solid to clean fuels (electricity or gas). The rates of these eye ailments were higher in rural residents than their urban counterparts.
- Moreover, the significant long-term assessment also concluded that solid fuel use was not associated with glaucoma.
Need for study:
- Close to half the world’s population is exposed to household air pollution stemming from cooking fuels. This includes 452 million in China and 846 million in India.
Note:
- Previous studies have explored the connection between cooking with solid fuels and the risk of cataracts in women, but not men.
- According to those reports, women cooking with biomass fuels were exposed to three times the levels of particulate matter (PM) 10 and PM 2.5 as those using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
- However, these studies could not ascertain whether the burning of solid fuels is also behind major eye diseases like conjunctivitis, glaucoma, etc.
