One mosquito coil, the smoke of a hundred cigarettes
Burning a single coil can release as much fine particulate matter as 75 to 137 cigarettes. Most of us burn it in a closed bedroom.
In a lot of Indian homes the evening routine includes lighting a coil under the bed and shutting the windows to keep the mosquitoes out. It feels harmless. It is cheap, it smells faintly of sandalwood, and it works.
It also makes a great deal of smoke. A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives measured what comes off a burning coil. One coil released about as much fine particulate matter, PM2.5, as 75 to 137 cigarettes, and as much formaldehyde as around 51. PM2.5 is the same fine dust that makes Delhi's winter air so dangerous: small enough to travel deep into the lungs and from there into the blood.
Later studies across Asia linked regular coil use in bedrooms with more asthma and wheezing in children, and with lung problems in adults. The risk is highest in exactly the way we use them: a small room, doors shut, for eight hours, with children asleep beside it.
Safer ways to keep mosquitoes away - A mosquito net over the bed is still the most reliable protection, and it makes no smoke. - Fit mesh on windows and doors so you can keep the room aired. - If you do use a coil, burn it outdoors or near an open door or window, never in a closed bedroom. - Empty standing water in coolers, flower pots and trays every week. That is where they breed. - Use a repellent cream on exposed skin in the evenings, especially in dengue season.
Where this comes from - Liu W et al. Mosquito Coil Emissions and Health Implications. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2003.
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