| Title: | Impact of biogas digesters on cookhouse volatile organic compound exposure for rural Kenyan farmwomen |
| Author(s): | Dohoo C; Read Guernsey J; Gibson MD; VanLeeuwen J; |
| Address: | "Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. 1] Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada [2] Centre for Veterinary Epidemiological Research, Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Canada. Department of Process Engineering and Applied Science, Faculty of Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada" |
| Journal Title: | J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1559-064X (Electronic) 1559-0631 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Women living on rural Kenyan smallholder dairy farms burn wood as biofuel in family cookhouses. Unventilated biofuel combustion produces harmful levels of respirable particles and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in indoor environments. Biogas digesters, which can generate high methane-content biogas from livestock manure composting were recently installed on 31 farms. The study objectives were to compare VOC exposure profiles for women cooking on farms with and without biogas digesters, and to compare seasonal variations in VOC exposures for those women cooking with biogas. Participants (n=31 biogas farms, n=31 referent farms) wore passive thermal desorption VOC sampling tubes and recorded cookhouse fuel use on time activity sheets for 7 days. Women using biogas spent significantly less time (mean=509 min/week) exposed to cookhouse wood smoke compared with the referent group (mean=1122 min/week) (P<0.01). Total VOC exposure did not differ between farm groups (P=0.14), though concentrations of trans-1,3-dichloropropene, bromoform, and 1,4-dichlorobenzene in biogas cookhouses were significantly lower than in referent cookhouses, even after Bonferroni correction. The composition of VOC species was also significantly different, reflecting the different fuel sources. Biogas digester technologies have great potential for reducing exposure to wood smoke VOCs in low-income countries" |
| Keywords: | "Adult Aged Agriculture Air Pollutants/*analysis Air Pollution, Indoor/*analysis Allyl Compounds/*analysis Biofuels Chlorobenzenes/*analysis Cooking Dairying Environmental Monitoring Female Humans Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated Kenya Manure Middle Aged Particul;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineDohoo, Carolyn Read Guernsey, Judith Gibson, Mark D VanLeeuwen, John eng CDA-66534/Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2013/08/01 J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2015 Mar-Apr; 25(2):167-74. doi: 10.1038/jes.2013.42. Epub 2013 Jul 31" |
