prev next front |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18 |19 |20 |21 |22 |23 |24 |25 |26 |27 |28 |29 |30 |31 |32 |review
In a series of case-control studies we were able to identify several indoor air pollutants as respiratory carcinogens among nonsmoking women, especially those living in poorly ventilated homes. They included coal combustion products generated by cooking and heating, vapors released from certain cooking oils used in high-temperature wok cooking. And let’s say that Curt Harris came to our aid and analyzed the volatile chemicals that were in the vapors and found a festival of carcinogens and mutagens), including 1,3-butadiene and Benzene. And we also studied people who resided in what we call underground homes or cave dwellers and the risks were associated with high levels of radon in these particular homes. So these studies led to a recent evaluation by IARC which classified household cold combustion products into Group 1 as human carcinogens. The findings are especially important since one-half of the world’s population use solid fuels (such as coal and biomass) for cooking and heating. The studies also illustrate the unique opportunities in developing countries to uncover risks associated with exposures that are much lower and more difficult to evaluate in this country.