Progress in introducing cleaner cook stoves.

• Position: Air Pollution - Brief article

It may be the 21st century, but nearly half of the world's population still cooks and heats with open fires or primitive stoves that burn wood, animal dung, charcoal, and other polluting solid fuels.

In Science & Technology, Susan C. Anenberg of the Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., describes the health and environmental consequences of those old-fashioned energy sources, including an estimated 4,000,000 deaths annually from inhalation of soot and other material in the smoke, and air pollution that contributes to global warming. Reliance on wood and charcoal also adds to...