Jamaicans are being urged to ensure proper ventilation in enclosed spaces where gas stoves are being used after a study revealed that the appliances emit benzene levels above secondhand smoke.
Sherika Whitelocke-Ballingsingh, Poison Information Coordinator with the Caribbean Poison Information Network, says this precautionary measure can lower exposure to toxins such as the cancer linked chemical, benzene.
The findings of a peer-reviewed study released last month, led by scientists at Stanford University, is the first to use new monitors to effectively measure benzene indoors.
The research found that even low doses of airborne benzene raise the risk of a variety of cancers, including lymphomas and leukemia, by damaging people’s bone marrow.
Elevated levels of benzene can linger for six hours throughout a house or apartment after a gas stove is turned off.
Speaking Tuesday on TVJ’s Smile Jamaica, Mrs Whitelocke-Ballingsingh said houses in Jamaica, due to the tropical climate, are generally built with proper ventilation compared with other countries.
But she said the housing infrastructure in Jamaica has changed over the years.
“I’ve been observing and it’s of concern to me how smaller our windows are becoming now with new constructions and the internal materials that we’re using. Now we have dry walls being used in the homes compared to before. We have more persons using air condition instead of using natural ventilation within their home.”
Mrs Whitelocke-Ballingsingh said it would be ideal for all Jamaican homes and cookshops to have electric stoves or bio-monitoring devices which are used to measure for unsafe levels of toxic chemicals, but the economic reality will make this prohibitive.
“So we go to the next best fit, precautionary measures. Ensure that we have proper ventilations within our home. For homes in our small country, they come with a vent. So the stoves are made with vent and so that exhaust thing goes out,” she explained.
The poison information coordinator has recommended that the government develop a policy to monitor vulnerable areas for toxins such benzene.
“The government now need to look on what it is we have in place in terms of public health. How are we now going to start monitoring homes, especially for vulnerable populations? How often do we go into a home to check their indoor air quality? And we can also match if we see numerous children having eye incidence, or there’s a prevalence of asthma within a particular area, then you start doing the environmental assessment,” she suggested.
She said these assessments would also be able to identify other toxins like nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide.
