Burning yak dung pollutes tibetan homes, study finds – medical news today

While a number of our Western readers is going to be grateful at this time for that largely fossil fuel-powered heating that keeps our homes snug and warm within the biting winter several weeks, spare a concept for that nomads from the Himalayas, whose home energy plan includes a more renewable but somewhat less savory fuel: yak dung. New research within the journal Atmospheric Atmosphere reports that yak dung – burnt inside for that combination of cooking and remaining warm – fills the environment with harmful black carbon.

yak dung
The households within the study mostly used yak dung as fuel to cook plus they all used yak dung because the only fuel for heating.

It had been believed through the World Health Organization (WHO) that 4.3 million people died prematurely all over the world this year as a result of indoor polluting of the environment from stoves that used coal, wood, dung or crop waste as fuel. Compared, outside polluting of the environment was believed to become associated with 3.seven million deaths this year.

Yaks are central to nomadic society in Tibet. The lengthy-haired, cattle-related creatures act as pack creatures and supply meat and milk, in addition to fiber for fabrics, as well as their dung can be used as heating fuel.

Although previous research has examined indoor quality of air in Tibet, they’d only checked out the summer time season. They behind the brand new study – in the Department of Ecological Sciences at Emory College and also the Department of Ecological Health in the Rollins School of Public Health, in Atlanta, GA – desired to investigate indoor emissions throughout the cold winter several weeks.

“Indoor polluting of the environment is a big human health condition through the third world,Inch states co-author Eri Saikawa. “Inside a cold region like Tibet, the outcome on individuals might be increased simply because they spend a lot time inside and then try to maintain their homes as airtight as you possibly can.Inch

In March 2013, Saikawa’s friend, Qingyang Xiao – a graduate student at Rollins School of Public Health – traveled to Nam Co in Tibet and measured indoor concentrations of proper particulate matter in six households using powered by batteries aerosol monitors. The households mostly used yak dung because the primary fuel to cook plus they all used yak dung because the only fuel for heating.

Resourse: http://medicalnewstoday.com/articles/

Yak Dung Walls