Harmful effects of using firewood

Cooking is the process of preparing food primarily through the application of heat. Firewood is the most popular source of domestic energy used for cooking in Africa.

In Nigeria, many houses and restaurants resort to the use of firewood for cooking, especially for large families, groups, parties, etc., mainly due to the availability, the economic nature of firewood and the lack of access to modern cooking fuels. . But a lot of households are not aware of the dangers that
associated with cooking with firewood.

Firewood


Firewood comes mainly from felled trees. The main reason for planting trees is for the preservation of the ecosystem and maintaining a good balance.

Deforestation through the indiscriminate felling of trees for use as firewood has been a major source of concern. Deforestation causes distortion or disequilibrium in the ecosystem and should be discouraged.

It is even worse when people who cut trees do not care about the replacement. It has been recommended that for each tree that falls, plant another four. This is not fulfilled.

Trees

Each log of wood you see comes from a tree. A tree is a plant with an elongated trunk that holds its branches and leaves.

Importance of trees
• Trees provide oxygen (in one year, one acre of mature trees can provide
enough oxygen for 18 people).
• The trees refresh and cool the environment / the streets and the city: through
shadows and the release of steam in the air
• Trees conserve energy
• Trees save water
• Trees help prevent water contamination
• Trees help prevent soil erosion
• Trees protect children from ultraviolet rays
• Trees provide food
• Trees mark the seasons
• Trees provide a canopy and habitat for wildlife
• Trees clean the air
• Trees provide wood
• Trees fight climate change

Each wood stick you use represents a felled tree that could have provided all of the above and much more.

But reducing it to our discourse, there is a challenge that arises when trees are cut indiscriminately, which is a health problem that no one is looking at.

Fire Wood- The Silent Killer
The very serious adverse health effects faced by African women have been widely reported due to the continued inhalation of smoke emitted from burning wood. This smoke contains complex gases and fine particles, which affect both the lungs and the heart.

Wood smoke is a great source of what the scientist calls pollution by fine particles. It is painful that most firewood users do not know the health hazard they are exposed to.

Fine particles

The size of the particles is directly related to their potential to cause health problems. Small particles present the greatest problems, since they can penetrate deep into the lungs and even some can reach the bloodstream. Among these particles there are "fine particles", which are 2.5 micrometers in diameter and are smaller.

Some of these problems include:

• Increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the respiratory tract, cough or
difficult breathing;
• Decreased lung function;
• aggravated asthma;
• Development of chronic bronchitis;
• Irregular heartbeat;
• non-fatal heart attacks; Y
• Premature death in people with heart or lung diseases.

Other problems
In addition to the fine particles, the complex gas emitted contains sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and potentially carcinogenic compounds that include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene, formaldehyde and dioxins, which are known to cause cancer, in addition to the notorious CO2 greenhouse