© 2005 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
WORLD AT WORK
Hazards in a traditional industry
World at work: Charcoal producing industries in northeastern Brazil
1 Fundacentro-CRBA, Salvador, 41820–770, Brazil
2 Department of Preventive Medicine, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, 41100-100, Brazil
3 Environmental Carcinogenesis Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA
4 Departments of Epidemiology and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, CB-7435, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435, USA
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr M Kato
Fundacentro-CRBA, r. Alceu Amoroso Lima, 142, Pituba, Salvador/Bahia, 41820-770, Brazil; mika@fundacentro-ba.gov.br
A poorly mechanised process, dependent on human labour
Keywords: Brazil; charcoal; occupational hazard; wood smoke
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The charcoal production process has been known since the Bronze Age, and was vital to metallurgy until the discovery of the conversion of coal to coke at the beginning of the 18th century.1 Brazil, now the largest charcoal producer of the world, with more than 12 million metric tons in year 2002,2 has preserved its charcoal based industries in large part because it has extensive iron deposits and very few coal mines.3
In Brazil, charcoal is produced on an industrial scale primarily by carbonisation of wood in masonry kilns, in a poorly mechanised process that is highly dependent on human labour.1,4 We observed the charcoal producing process in the northeastern area of Bahia State, Brazil, and identified the following tasks.
Charcoal making begins with the falling of trees, usually Eucalyptus or Pinus grown in plantations. After lumberjacks have cut the tree using a chain saw,
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