Low-emission cookstoves like this, dubbed the Ugastove, have been developed by UC Berkeley researchers to cut down on respiratory illnesses common among people who cook with wood or coal. But the stoves have an added benefit: they emit less black carbon and other pollutants that contribute to global warming. UC Berkeley researchers estimate that a 10-year program in India to introduce 150 million low-emission cookstoves could reduce by one-sixth the deaths from respiratory illnesses and heart disease.
BERKELEY — Tackling climate change by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions will have major direct health benefits in addition to reducing the risk of climate change, especially in low-income countries, according to a series of six papers appearing today (Wed. Nov. 25) in the British journal The Lancet . Low-emission cookstoves like this, dubbed the Ugastove, have been developed by UC Berkeley researchers to cut down on respiratory illnesses common among people who cook with wood or coal. But the stoves have an added benefit: they emit less black carbon and other pollutants that contribute to global warming. UC Berkeley researchers estimate that a 10-year program in India to introduce 150 million low-emission cookstoves could reduce by one-sixth the deaths from respiratory illnesses and heart disease. (Matt Evans photo) Two University of California, Berkeley, authors of the papers — Kirk R. Smith, professor of global environmental health, and Michael Jerrett, associate professor of environmental health sciences — presented the results today at a press conference in Washington, D.C. The press conference, held at the end of a half-day discussion of the studies' policy implications, also included Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Toxicology Program.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
