英国《金融时报》原文阅读精选集（九）最新章节_英国《金融时报》著

研究：厨房污染物的危害不亚于雾霾

研究表明，即使加热吐司也能将空气质量降低到室外不安全的水平。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

recalibrate [rɪ'kælɪbreɪt] v.重新校准

exhaust hood [ɪɡˈzɔːst hʊd] n.排气罩

electric kettle n.电热水壶

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Kitchen pollutants can be as unhealthy as city smog (521 words)

Cooking dinner in a modern American kitchen can generate indoor air pollution as unhealthy as outdoor air in the world’s dirtiest cities, according to a groundbreaking US study.

Early results from the HomeChem project, based on intensive monitoring of a model home on the University of Texas Austin campus, were released at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.

Measured indoor concentrations of pollutants quickly exceeded the researchers’ expectations. Many of the sensitive monitoring instruments had to be recalibrated almost immediately, said Marina Vance of the University of Colorado, Boulder, co-leader of the project. “Even the simple act of making toast raised particle levels far higher than expected.”

In the developing world and particularly in south Asia, indoor air pollution from cooking on simple unventilated stoves, heated by solid fuel or kerosene, is recognised as a serious public health problem. The World Health Organisation estimates that 4m people a year die prematurely from lung and heart diseases caused by fine airborne particles and combustion gases from stoves.

Dr Vance said people did not realise that cooking in modern western kitchens might also cause significant pollution, though the health effects are much less serious than in poor countries. Inhabitants of the industrialised world spend an average 90 per cent of their time indoors, most of it at home, yet domestic air pollution is essentially unmonitored and unregulated, she said, unlike air outdoors and in the workplace.

HomeChem was set up to provide previously unavailable data. “We had four trailers packed with instrumentation parked around our three-bedroom house, as well as instruments inside,” Dr Vance said.

When the HomeChem team cooked a full-scale Thanksgiving dinner microscopic pollutant particles indoors reached peak concentrations 10 times higher than recommended safe levels for urban outdoor air. “I was particularly surprised by the very high levels we found of ultra-fine particles less than 0.1 microns in diameter,” Dr Vance said.

The researchers also cooked stir fries and a full English breakfast. Just making toast, browned but not burnt, raised indoor pollution for a few minutes to levels that would be considered unsafe outdoors. Among the oven-cooked dishes, roasted Brussels sprouts were especially polluting.

Not surprisingly, boiling was less polluting than frying or roasting meat or vegetables coated with fat or oil. But even boiling on a gas hob caused some local pollution from the flames’ combustion products. Altogether, during the simulated Thanksgiving day cooking, air quality was unhealthy by US outdoor standards for about seven hours and “very unhealthy” for one hour.

To reduce cooking pollution, Dr Vance said kitchens should have an effective fan over the hob that vents air outdoors, as restaurants and commercial kitchens do on a larger scale.

“I used only to use my exhaust hood at home when I was cooking something smoky or smelly,” she added. “Now I put it on whenever I am cooking. And I bought an electric kettle rather than boiling water on the hob.”

Full scientific results from HomeChem, including the effects of other domestic activities such as cleaning and the use of personal care products, will be published over the next few months.

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