Nearly half a million people die each year in China as a result of smoke, mainly from indoor coal- and wood-burning stoves, according to a leading international health expert. About 420,000 deaths occur as a result of dust, toxins such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and lead coming from stoves in poorly ventilated rural homes, with most victims being women and children. This is the cause of more than half the number of people who die from air pollution related illnesses on the mainland, said Kirk Smith, an indoor air pollution expert with the World Health Organisation. Some 180m Chinese households still use indoor and open-air coal- and wood-burning stoves.
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