(It's National Pollution Prevention Day today. FIT is republishing this story to create awareness around the issue.)
Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal released a short video entitled ‘Chulha’, which deals with the health damage caused by burning coal, dung cakes and wood.
In many Indian homes, the earthen stove is used for cooking, but the smoke emanating from it affects the health of the women and children who do the cooking.
The video reveals that a stove that burns with coal, dung or wood releases a as much smoke as smoking100 cigarettes a day!
For cooking or warming in the cold, where solid fuels like wood, coal are burnt, people are at increased risk of lung cancer and many other lung diseases.
It’s no secret that polluted air is extremely harmful to our bodies. In fact, FIT previously reported on a comprehensive analysis of the global impact of air pollution on newborns revealed that 1.16 lakh children under 1 month died due to external and domestic pollution.
The State of Global Air 2020 report found that more than half of these deaths were linked to outdoor pollution of PM 2.5 and others were linked to using solid fuels such as charcoal, wood and cow dung for cooking. That is why the World Health Organization's 25 measures to clean up poisonous air include giving clean energy options for cooking.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)