Studies being conducted in India and China have shown that indoor air pollution can be as fatal as smoking. After studies at a Yerawada slum showed that use of kerosene and other fuels coupled with poor ventilation had led to a high number of slum dwellers being infected with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a high profile team from the Imperial College of London will be visiting Pune to conduct a joint study with the Chest Research Foundation (CRF).

“One does not necessarily have to be a smoker to be infected with this disease,” said Dr Sundeep Salvi, director of CRF, which conducts research on respiratory diseases with emphasis on airways diseases.

The Yerawada study, which went on to bag the best paper award at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Stockholm last September, now forms the basis of the new research project to be launched jointly by CRF and the Imperial College of London. The Rs 2-crore joint project will be launched by the end of January and will study rural homes in Vadu, about 25 km from Pune.

“The common belief is that 90 per cent of those affected by COPD are smokers. But our research clearly indicates that one does not have to be a smoker to be infected,” said Salvi. “As 75 per cent of Indian homes use chullahs for cooking, we will study a sample size of 5,000 people, conduct spirometry tests and check on the functioning of their lungs,” he added.