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Pillarisetti A, Ghorpade M, Madhav S, Dhongade A, Roy S, Balakrishnan K, Sankar S, Patil R, Levine DI, Juvekar S, Smith KR. Promoting LPG usage during pregnancy: A pilot study in rural Maharashtra, India. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2019; 127:540-549. [PMID: 30981912 PMCID: PMC7213905 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.04.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2019] [Revised: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 04/05/2019] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Household air pollution from the combustion of biomass and coal is estimated to cause approximately 780,000 premature deaths a year in India. The government has responded by promoting uptake of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by tens of millions of poor rural families. Many poor households with new LPG stoves, however, continue to partially use traditional smoky chulhas. Our primary objective was to evaluate three strategies to transition pregnant women in rural Maharashtra to exclusive use of LPG for cooking. We also measured reductions in kitchen concentrations of PM2.5 before and after our interventions. Our core intervention was a free stove, 2 free LPG cylinders (one on loan until delivery), and repeated health messaging. We measured stove usage of both the traditional and intervention stoves until delivery. In households that received the core intervention, an average of 66% days had no indoor cooking on a chulha. In an adjacent area, we evaluated a conditional cash transfer (CCT) based on usage of LPG in addition to the core intervention. Results were less successful, due to challenges implementing the CCT. Pregnant women in a third nearby area received the core intervention plus a maximum of one 14.2 kg cylinder per month of free fuel. In their homes, 90% of days had no indoor cooking on a chulha. On average, exclusive LPG use decreased kitchen concentrations of PM2.5 by approximately 85% (from 520 to 72 μg/m3). 85% of participating households agreed to pay the deposit on the 2nd cylinder. This high purchase rate suggests they valued how the second cylinder permitted continuous LPG supply. A program to increase access to second cylinders may, thus, be a straightforward way to encourage use of clean fuels in rural areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ajay Pillarisetti
- Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States.
| | - Makarand Ghorpade
- Vadu Rural Health Program, KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, India
| | - Sathish Madhav
- Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India
| | - Arun Dhongade
- Vadu Rural Health Program, KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, India
| | - Sudipto Roy
- Vadu Rural Health Program, KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, India
| | - Kalpana Balakrishnan
- Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India
| | - Sambandam Sankar
- Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India
| | - Rutuja Patil
- Vadu Rural Health Program, KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, India
| | - David I Levine
- Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
| | - Sanjay Juvekar
- Vadu Rural Health Program, KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, India
| | - Kirk R Smith
- Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Collaborative Clean Air Policy Centre, New Delhi, India
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Sun J, Wang J, Shen Z, Huang Y, Zhang Y, Niu X, Cao J, Zhang Q, Xu H, Zhang N, Li X. Volatile organic compounds from residential solid fuel burning in Guanzhong Plain, China: Source-related profiles and risks. CHEMOSPHERE 2019; 221:184-192. [PMID: 30639814 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2018] [Revised: 12/23/2018] [Accepted: 01/01/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Characteristics of indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and their health risks were investigated in kitchens and bedrooms during the heating season in rural Guanzhong Plain, China. Toxic-VOC concentrations in kitchens with traditional wood (299 ± 38.8 μg m-3) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves (187 ± 54.6 μg m-3) were considerably higher than those in bedrooms. High levels of toxic VOCs in traditional kitchens were strongly correlated with wood combustion (R = 0.72). The coefficient of determination of VOC profiles between the kitchen and wood combustion was 0.27, indicating that VOCs in traditional kitchens are mainly derived from wood combustion. For women, who do most of the cooking, noncancer risk from exposure to toxic VOCs could reach 7600 and 2550 in traditional and LPG kitchens, respectively. Noncancer risks were much lower in bedrooms than in kitchens, but still two orders of magnitude higher than the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) threshold. Cancer risk from exposure to VOCs for women was 8.98 × 10-4 and 1.67 × 10-4 in both traditional and LPG kitchens, respectively, and ranged from 2.51 × 10-6 to 3.85 × 10-5 in bedrooms-all exceeding the USEPA threshold. Thus, during the heating season indicated that the rural Guanzhong residents were exposed to toxic VOCs from indoor heating and cooking at levels higher than the recommended safety levels. Moreover, traditional cooking and heating styles in rural Guanzhong need to be urgently updated to improve the indoor air quality for residents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Sun
- School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China
| | - Jinhui Wang
- NICU, Xi'an Children's Hospital, Xi'an, 710003, China.
| | - Zhenxing Shen
- Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
| | - Yu Huang
- Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry & Physics, SKLLQG, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710049, China
| | - Yue Zhang
- Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Xinyi Niu
- Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry & Physics, SKLLQG, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710049, China; The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Junji Cao
- Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry & Physics, SKLLQG, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710049, China
| | - Qian Zhang
- School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China
| | - Hongmei Xu
- Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Ningning Zhang
- Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry & Physics, SKLLQG, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710049, China
| | - Xuxiang Li
- School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China
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