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Indoor Air Problems in Asia

Centre for Environmental Control and Waste Management, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UK

Respiratory disease and mortality due to indoor air pollution are amongst the greatest environmental threats to health in the developing countries of Asia. World-wide, acute respiratory infection is the cause of death of at least 5 mil lion children under the age of 5 every year. The World Bank has claimed that smoke from biomass fuels resulted in an estimated 4 million deaths annually amongst infants and children. Most of these deaths occur in developing coun tries. Combustion in its various forms must head the list of pollution sources in Asia. Combustion of various fuels for domestic heating, lighting and cook ing comprises the major source of internally generated pollutants and combus tion in industrial plants, power generation and transportation is the major cause of externally generated pollutants. The products of pyrolysis and com bustion include many compounds with well-known adverse health effects. These include gases such as CO, CO₂, NO_x and SO₂, volatile organic com pounds such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrosamines as well as respirable particulates of variable composition. The nature and magnitude of the health risks posed by these materials vary with season, climate, location, housing, method of ventilation, culture and socio-economic status. The most important cause of lung cancer in non-smokers in Northern Asia is the domes tic combustion of smoky coal. Acute carbon monoxide poisoning is common in many Asian countries. Roads traffic exhaust pollution is worse in the major cities of South East Asia than almost anywhere else in the world and this exter nally generated air pollution forms the indoor air for the urban poor. Despite all these major problems there has been a tendency for international agencies to focus attention and resources on the more trivial problems of indoor air encountered in the affluent countries of the West. Regulatory agencies in Asia have been too frequently persuaded that their problems of indoor air pollution are similar to those in the West and require similar legislation.

Key Words: Combustion • Biomass fuel • Smoke • Radon • Environmental tobacco smoke • Biologicals

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