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 (Photo: vietq.vn)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
are released into the air daily.
Thousands of coal traditional s 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 .
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 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
Source: VietnamPlus
