Assessment of the Effects of Sugar Cane Plantation Burning on Daily Counts of Inhalation Therapy

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the association between sugar cane plantation burning and hospital visits in Araraquara in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. From June 1 to August 31, 1995, the daily number of visits of patients who needed inhalation therapy in one of the main hospitals of the city was recorded and used as health impairment estimation. Sedimentation of particle mass (the amount of particles deposited on four containers filled with water) was measured daily. The association between the weight of the sediment and the number of visits was evaluated by means of Poisson regression models controlled for seasonality, temperature, day of the week, and rain. We found a significant and dose-dependent relationship between the number of visits and the amount of sediment. The relative risk of visit associated with an increase of 10 mg in the sediment weight was 1.09 (1-1.19), and the relative risk of an inhalation IMPLICATIONS Biomass fuels are considered to be a cleaner alternative than petroleum-derived sources of energy. Because of its renewability, zero balance in terms of CO 2 production, and less toxic emission, ethanol received a great focus in the development of the energy matrix in São Paulo. This paper deals with the possible but not always considered side effects of producing ethanol with low technological resources--the harvesting process after burning the plantations. The results of this paper indicate that the environmental benefits of using ethanol as automotive fuel have to be balanced with the adverse effects promoted by harvesting, pointing out that better agricultural technology has to be adopted to avoid adverse health effects due to smoke in the producing regions.therapy was 1.20 (1.03-1.39) on the most polluted days (fourth quartile of sediment mass). These results indicate that sugar cane burning may cause deleterious health effects in the exposed population.

Air pollutants and hospital admission due to pneumonia in children: a time series analysis

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A systematic review of the physical and chemical characteristics of pollutants from biomass burning and combustion of fossil fuels and health effects in Brazil

“…Ninety articles (66%) deal with the adverse respiratory effects of air pollution of which 54 (60%) were selected 21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,…”

Association between particulate matter air pollution and monthly inhalation and nebulization procedures in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State, Brazil

“…Where sugarcane is grown and processed, the population has suffered from constant burning in the fields 27 , which increases the release of air pollutants, responsible for various health problems 41,42 . Ribeirão Preto has been heavily affected by this problem in recent decades, not only due to burning in sugarcane fields, but also by fires set by the residents themselves, who believe that burning fallen leaves and branches and the weeds growing on and around their lots, or even household garbage, will solve the problem of accumulated waste around their homes.…”