[Stoves] Safety of stoves and conflicts of interests

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Paul

>While safety is so important, I am somewhat dismayed at the fullness of
>regulations of a manufactured product while a society continues to allow
>extensive use of unsafe practices (like the "embuela" -- a coal-burning
>open-bucket-heater -- that causes clouds of air pollution in the 
>townships).

A reasonable answer is to point out that the power and money of modern
science has not been turned to solve the problems of poor people.  It is not
that stoves have to be expensive, it is just that very little has been done
about providing suitable products.

My son says cell phones having millions of tiny components and circuits, are
produced at the hardware manufacturing stage in 8 seconds. An X-Box is made
in 11 seconds. That is the capacity to produce cheap, working products.

An Mbaula costs 150 Rands in a township, made from available (often new)
materials, or about half the cost of a bottom of the line GPRS cell phone.

Think more broadly: where is the appropriate technology ball point pen made
from 'local materials'?  A BIC pen is a very high tech product made with
some of the most advanced materials ever produced and sells for a few cents.
Why? Because someone has made the investment required to deliver to the
bottom of the pyramid. 

It is quite possible to produce inexpensive stove that meet very tight
design criteria, but not in your home workshop, any more than you can make
your own calculator or camera.  Years ago you could buy a Heathkit TV and
build it yourself, but the parts and instructions cost quite a bit more than
an assembled one!

Basically, industry has not been challenged to produce effective, safe
products for poor people, though there is no reason not to.  In general
(which is a bad way to describe something) the poor are offered products
that have been cheapened to the point of barely functioning while the rich
are offered the fruit of industrial advances by the hour. Exceptions to this
include ARV treatments, digital watches, and very importantly, the cell
phone which has transformed the lives of even the very poor because all
communication has improved.  Almost everyone knows someone with a cell phone
and has indirect access to one.

A way to examine a stove from an industrial safety point of view (which of
course people are not generally asked to do) you can ask the question, how
many people am I willing to die in fires caused by this device?

In South Africa something like 3000 people per year died in fires caused by
paraffin stoves, the vast majority caused by low priced wick stoves tipping
over.  Add to that about 16,000 people getting severely burned (each victim
requiring on average 25 operations during their lifetime) and the property
damage, the cost to the nation was massive. It would be just as reasonable
(as your question) to ask why a nation that can produce air-to-air missiles
and attach helicopters can't come up with a safe paraffin stove. What does
an army protect if not the people? If only rich people are protected it is
not a happy home.

The easiest and probably the best approach is not to make a single stove
design but to produce rules that protect the whole population and allow the
inventive genius of all to produce a variety of products.

The situation with stoves is not unusual.  However in the case of South
Africa there is a strong connection between the poorest populations and the
voices of numerous NGO's, government agencies and social scientists so
action was taken, coalescing about the oil industry-fund Paraffin Safety
Association (www.pasasa.org) where you re welcomed with the words, "Everyone
has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and
well-being."

Paul, your work is important and do not be dismayed by either the standards,
nor the existence of conflicting appearances.  South Africa targeted stoves
for improvement because they kill and injure so many people who have a
constitutional right to a safe environment.  The coal burning issue is being
closely looked at all the time.

What you have is a burner, not a stove which is an appliance.  That is an
important distinction.  Many people have stoves with poor burners, some have
good burners with poor stoves.  An engine does not a car make nor ink a pen.

Best regards
Crispin