Cooking with firewood, kerosene is dangerous, it causes asthma, high blood pressure – Toluwalope Ogunro

A Doctor of Energy Economics at the University of Ibadan, Toluwalope Ogunro has declared that the use of firewood and kerosene for cooking is associated with negative health outcomes such as Asthma, respiratory ill-health, and tear-in-the-eyes.

Ogunro, who disclosed that the use of firewood for cooking is likely to cause increase in blood pressure, advocated the use of modern energy for cooking and adoption of better cooking practices for positive health outcomes.

She made this known in a paper entitled “Fuel Choice and Health Outcomes in Ogun State, Nigeria” delivered at the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL) University of Ibadan at the weekend.

Ogunro revealed that the use of kerosene for cooking in urban areas is likely to cause fever and tear-in-the eye.

The don, who noted that there is disparity between the urban and rural areas to modern energy such as cooking gas, stated that rural dwellers utilised more firewood because it was free and easily accessible to them while suffering negative short term and long term health outcomes.

“An analysis of five models of health outcomes shows that kerosene and firewood are likely causes of tear in the eyes and respiratory ill-health; firewood is a likely cause of blood pressure and Asthma while a comparison of rural and urban health outcomes due to fuel use reveal that kerosene relative to LPG use for cooking and firewood relative to LPG use for cooking are likely causes of respiratory ill-health in rural and urban areas of the study.

“Firewood is a likely cause of tear in the eyes in rural and urban areas though urban health outcomes for tear in the eyes and respiratory ill-health have higher magnitude of health outcomes than rural areas,” she said.

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