WORRIED about mosquitoes?
Think about your lungs too.
Sure, with dengue fever lurking around, you have to keep the mozzies out. (See report below.)
But read this before you light that mosquito coil.
The smoke from the burning coil that keeps the mosquitoes at bay will be getting into your lungs.
And it's a lot of smoke.
Burning one mosquito coil could be like smoking up to 137 cigarettes.
Dr Ang Ai Tin, a paediatrician of 20 years, warned: 'Mosquito coils are made of substances like coconut husk, sawdust and dyes to keep them burning for up to eight hours.
'A recent study suggests exposure to the emitted smoke can pose significant acute and chronic health risks.
'Burning one mosquito coil would release the same amount of smoke as burning 75 to 137 cigarettes.'
Dr Ang, a consultant paediatrician at Paediatric Centre in Thomson Medical Centre, was referring to a report in the US monthly, Environmental Health Perspectives, in September 2003.
The report said the pollutants released by mosquito coils exceed air safety levels.
Four brands of mosquito coils from China and two Malaysian brands were tested. But the brands were not named.
Dr Ang said: 'Breathing in too much smoke will increase the risk of asthma and cause persistent wheezing in children.'
Unlike cigarettes, mosquito coils do not contain tobacco.
But harmful chemicals are released from burning them.
USED IN MANY BUG SPRAYS
These are formaldehyde, octachlorodipropyl ether and bischloromethyl ether.
The active ingredient in mosquito coils is pyrethroid insecticides, used in many bug sprays.
Pyrethroids are mostly harmless to humans, but Dr Ang said they can irritate the skin and eyes.
Some people are allergic to them too.
But it is the other chemicals used in some mosquito coils that cause worry.
For example, formaldehyde affects the nose.
'Formaldehyde is a colourless, flammable and strong smelling gas,' said Dr Ang.
'Inhaling it could cause watery eyes, throat discomfort, coughing, wheezing, nausea and skin irritation.
'Also, it can cause nasal or sinus cancer and even leukaemia.'
The amount of formaldehyde released from burning one mosquito coil can be as high as smoking 51 cigarettes.
Formaldehyde is not an ingredient of mosquito coils but a by-product of burning them.
Octachlorodipropyl ether, better known as S-2, is a pesticide banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
When S-2 is burned, bischloromethyl ether, a strong and harmful chemical that causes lung cancer, is released.
Dr Ang said researchers at the University of California at Riverside, in the US, found that more than 50 mosquito coils tested contained S-2 - but that this fact had not been disclosed.
However, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said mosquito coils sold here do not contain S-2.
The NEA told The New Paper that mosquito coils sold here are regularly tested for banned substances like S-2.
A spokesman said: 'All household pesticide products and repellents including mosquito coils are required to be registered under the Control of Vectors and Pesticides Act.
'One of the requirements during registration is for the importer of the pesticide product to declare all the ingredients used in the product.'
The New Paper contacted two major importers of mosquito coils here for their comments.
S C Johnson and Son, which imports and sells the Baygon brand of mosquito coils here, said its mosquito coils are safe and its safety standards were upheld by the World Health Organisation.
Baygon is made in Indonesia.
But S C Johnson did not want to comment on the amount of smoke produced and the harmful gases released from burning coils.
The other importer was unable to respond by press time.
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