The way we cook has a deep effect on our health
According to the experts at the National Institute of Health, 2 million lives could be saved by replacing smoky and air polluting stoves that people use for cooking.
Besides the risks for lung diseases which people in developed countries are exposed to, without even realizing it, the fuel necessary for these stoves is also conducting to environmental issues such as deforestation. According to the researchers, approximately a half of the population of the world is using fuel or coal for cooking and heating.
Women and children are more exposed to these risks than men because they spent a longer period of time in the kitchen. The risks include developing lung cancer, pneumonia or other pulmonary diseases.
As an additional benefit of installing healthy cookstoves, the researchers quoted a recent study of the World Bank according to which more efficient stoves could also help reduce the carbon dioxide footprint that people consume while cooking.
The leader of the research was Francis Collins, MD, Director of the National Institute of Health. Among his colleagues, were John Balbus, senior advisor for public health at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, or William Martin, an associate director for health promotion at Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health.
As recognition of the problem, the United Nations has initiated the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
An alliance between public and private sectors, its main purpose is to create a global market for clean and efficient cookstoves. By the year 2020, the alliance has an objective to bring clean stoves for 100 million households.
The process of educating people into buying more healthy cookstoves will be a very hard one, since these stoves are more expensive than the old ones. Manufacturers have to convince their buyers about the health benefits of these new stoves.
Nevertheless, although costs are high, the Institute is willing to invest the necessary funds in order to achieve its goals and manage to help improve the environment and educate people into taking more care about their health than before.
