“We are explaining the harmful consequences of burning cow dung cakes. By using this as fuel, people from rural areas are prone to suffer from a lot of health problems.
We are trying our best to convince them to stop using this method. But, because they do not have access to modern facilities like LPG, electric stoves or solar power, people don’t often pay much heed to our advice,” explains Devdutt, programme coordinator, Janhit, a non governmental organisation. While on a visit to Meerut, an old city near Delhi, a well-designed tower of dung cakes was a familiar sight. Use of cow dung cakes as fuel is a traditional method in many parts of rural India.
Cow dung cakes are perhaps the cheapest burning fuel they use for purposes of cooking. However, burning of dung cakes causes serious health problems. According to health experts, the smoke released in the burning process contains hazardous gases. Studies show that by inhaling these, people suffer from diseases. There are specially made chulhas or stoves for using of dung cakes. Usually these cakes consist of groundnut husk; paddy straw is also used. When the cakes are burnt, dangerous gases are released, which is then inhaled by people. “Typically, poor women are victims of these toxic gases. They have no alternative to dung cakes and thus they are forced to use them,” points out Shanthkumar, technical guide.
There is another danger in eastern states of India and Bangladesh. Dung from cows that feed on pesticide-contaminated rice straw is dried and used in chulhas. When the dung cakes are burnt, hazardous gases are released and women sitting next to these chulhas inhale these gases. In many villages, a kitchen is a small room with no ventilator or window for circulation of air. Under such circumstances, the chances of women being affected with respiration-related ailments are high, health experts warn.
A study conducted by Jadavpur University shows that villagers in the Ganga, Meghana and Brahmaputra plains were exposed to smoke containing high levels of hazardous gases every day. This region’s groundwater is contaminated and this water is used by farmers to grow paddy. Cattle feed on polluted paddy and the dung is likely to contain arsenic.
When people burn dung cakes, over 25 per cent of the arsenic in fumes could be absorbed by the respiratory tract and this leads to lung cancer and other diseases. But there are solutions to this problem. One of them is the construction of gobar gas plants. The government offers a huge subsidy for gobar gas plant construction, but there is a lack of commitment in implementing the scheme.