Burning biomass fuels like dry wood and rice husk for cooking can produce air pollution and contribute to toxic heavy metals buildup inside rural kitchens in Bangladesh, a new study finds. Md. Badiuzzaman Khan, an environmental science professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University and the study’s lead author, said the research addresses a gap in understanding indoor pollution in rural communities. “Local people use various kinds of fuels like cowdung, or branches of wood or agricultural byproducts like rice straw or jute sticks,” Khan said in an email to Mongabay. “Heavy metals may come to rice straw or jute sticks from the fertilizers used in the crop field. Heavy metals may also come from natural sources like soil.” For this study, researchers collected dust samples from the walls and ceilings of 63 households in Bangladesh’s Haor and Charland regions, which both heavily rely on biomass fuel. They also analyzed 11 composite samples of biomass fuels used for cooking and examined their elemental composition. The study ran from November 2022 to March 2023. Many low-income rural households use biomass, potentially exposing people to heavy metals and the health consequences associated with them. However, most pollution research in Bangladesh has largely focused on...

গুজরাটের সুরাটে বিশেষ রাখিবন্ধন উৎসবের প্রস্তুতি চলছে এবং এই উদ্যোগে গোশালা থেকে তৈরি করা হচ্ছে বৈদিক রাখি। এই রাখি তৈরি করতে গরুর মল ব্যবহৃত হচ্ছে যা পরিবেশ বান্ধনের একটি উদাহরণ। এই প্রকল্পে গরুকে 'র… · Photo : The open draft · CC BY-SA · Wikimedia

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