Monitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emitted from kerosene fuel burning and assessment of health risks among women in selected rural and urban households of South India

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are well-known hazardous substances; nevertheless, research on their exposure and health concerns associated with kerosene fuel emissions is limited. In this study, PAH (combined gaseous and particle phase) monitoring was carried out in the kitchen and living room in selected households. Personal exposure and cooking time monitoring were also carried out, simultaneously. The study's findings revealed that BaP, BA, BbF, and Nap were the most prevalent PAHs in both the summer and winter seasons, regardless of urban or rural households. The estimated values of average incremental lifetime cancer risks were found to be greater than the USEPA level, i.e., 1 × 10 –6 , in both urban and rural households, regardless of seasonal fluctuation. In both seasons, the non-carcinogenic risk for developmental and reproductive effects was higher in rural women than in urban women, and in case of developmental risk it showed greater than unity (rural: 1.11 and urban 1.03) in the winter season. On the other hand, Monte Carlo simulation model revealed that concentrations of PAHs (97.1% and 97.5%) and exposure duration (51.7% and 56.7%) were the most sensitive factors contributed for health risk estimations for urban and rural area in both seasons, respectively. Furthermore, the results clearly showed that women who were using kerosene for cooking were at a greater risk of acquiring both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health consequences from PAH exposure from kerosene cookstoves. It was recommended that they should utilize clean fuel, either by using LPG under the PMUY scheme or by using electricity/solar power to reduce health risks for better health.