Some impoverished countries are searching for alternatives to cancer-causing fuel sources as research from throughout the world suggests that the number of people with cancer is increasing.
Solar-powered cooking appliances have been made available in Kenya as an alternative to wood fires, which are thought to be responsible for 500,000 fatalities annually.
It is a very affordable form of solar power for cooking that concentrates sunlight to a single spot using mirrors.
Eunice Wanjiku, a cancer survivor, thinks it’s a much healthier method to prepare food.
“This cooker is very good,” she says. “Since it was brought here I have stopped using firewood.
“Firewood emits smoke but when I am using the solar cooker, I do not encounter smoke therefore I breathe fresh air.
“The smoke from the firewood is dangerous to breathe. This cooker is good because we stopped cutting trees to get firewood.”
The women can construct the parabolic cooker quickly and affordably using cement on a metal mesh that is covered in a mosaic of sparkly mirrors.
Its inventor is environmentalist Keziah Ngugi who says: “So, if you look at the sky, like now it is blue, that is potential for cooking with the sun. And because we live around the tropics, the potential is immense, it is really huge.”
“In relation to cancer, basically this has been linked to some of the respiratory diseases and cancer of the lung as well,” he says.
Specialists in cancer claim there are unmistakable correlations between traditional firewood smoke and cancer. Traditional firewood smoke is a complicated blend of chemicals and small particles.
Radiation oncologist Robert Motengo practices at HCG Hospital in Nairobi.
“A study that was done in the U.S. in 2021 has shown an association between these gases, the greenhouse gases with lung cancer and also worsening the prognosis of cancer in those with breast cancer and even in paediatrics cases.”
Conventional cooking fuels are required when the sun is not strong enough, but the solar stove could help to lessen pollution and save lives.
