Comment on "Dioxin inhalation doses from wood combustion in indoor cookingfires" by Amanda L. Northcross, S. Katharine Hammond, Eduardo Canuz, Kirk, R. Smith. Atmospheric Environment 49 (2012), 415-418

The article of Northcross et al.reports an average indoor air PCDD/F concentration of 0.051 ng TEQ m-3 particle bound. The value was obtained from 31 experiments combusting wood in open cooking stoves. Based on these data, exposure assessments via inhalations are made and a previously undocumented exposure to PCDD/F is suggested. While there is no doubt about the overall conclusion that exposure to emissions from indoor cooking is a health hazard, the high indoor concentrations reported for PCDD/F from this study seem to be an artifact arising from an inappropriate experimental set up, which we believe requires some clarifications. Apart from a series of weaknesses in the analytical approach, which we comment in our paper, we show evidence from in house experimental data indicating an overestimation of PCDD/Fs in indoor air by 3 orders of magnitude.

UMLAUF Gunther;  MARIANI Giulio;  CARDENAS Beatriz; 

2013-11-29

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

JRC69425

1352-2310,