Experts warn of earthenware stove’s dangers

Hanoi (VNA) - Many people know the environmental harm of using a traditional earthenware stove with coal, but due to its cheap price, many families still use it for cooking and warming their house, endangering their health, according to experts.

A survey of the environment sub-department under the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment showed that on average, Hanoi consumes more than 528 tonnes of coal per day, meaning 1,870 tonnes of carbon dioxide are released into the air daily.

Thousands of coal traditional earthenware stoves contribute to this figure, with many placed on pavements, in public places and at small restaurants.

Statistics of the Poisoning Prevention Centre under the Bach Mai Hospital showed that dozens of patients need treatment for coal air poisoning per year, and fatalities have been reported.

Its latest survey on hundreds of households in Ba Dinh, Dong Da and Soc Son districts showed that the rate of residents using coal stove was 73, 63 and 56 percent, respectively. A coal stove costs about 100,000-200,000 VND (4-8 USD).

Nguyen Thi Hoa, a Dong Da district resident, said that she has sold rice vermicelli for the past two years, using a coal stove.

“It takes only 3,000 VND (0.1 USD) per piece of coal for the stove, I can cook for two hours,” she said.

Hoa added that all restaurants nearby use the cooker.

“I know that it is poisonous, but if I use a modern cooker, I will not have profits, and would even suffer losses,” she said.

Le Dinh Cong, a resident in Dong Da district, said his family used a gas cooker, but many neighbours use coal stoves.

“All of my small alley is full of coal smell causing difficulty breathing,” he said.

“I’m not sure it is because of coal stoves or not, but every night I feel a tightness across my chest, dizzyness and difficulty breathing,” said Cong.

Nguyen Thanh Mai, a doctor of the Bach Mai Hospital, said coal stoves could lead to different diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis, lung cancer and coal air poisoning.

But, she said, it was difficult to ban the stoves, especially for those with low income.

|“We need to give more instruction to residents to limit the stoves’ harm,” said Mai.

People should use the stoves in airy places, and not it in narrow or closed rooms to avoid poisoning, she said.

In 2011, a mother and her two children in the central province of Ha Tinh died of coal air poisoning after using coal stove to warm their house at night. 

In February 2014, a man in the central province of Thanh Hoa passed out unconscious whereas his daughter died after using the stove to stay warm.-VNA