Household Air Pollution (HAP) and Cancer: What (HAP)pens Next?

Humans around the world rely on a diversity of energy sources to provide heat for cooking and home comfort. Each of the energy sources utilized has a series of impacts on the environment and human health from extraction or harvest through combustion. At the household level, fuels that are considered to be clean, including gas, oil, and purchased electricity, yield lower levels of particulate emissions. Solid fuels including coal, wood, and other forms of biomass result in incomplete combustion which increases levels of known and suspected carcinogens, such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and particulate matter (PM2.5) within homes. Household Air Pollution (HAP) consists of combustion by-products attributed to in-home solid fuel use.