Health impacts of liquid biofuel production and use: A review

The dramatic growth in the production and use of liquid biofuels has led to concerns about associated impacts on human health. To date however, there has been no attempt to comprehensively synthesize the literature on this topic, despite a wealth of new research published over the past few years. We searched the Medline and Embase databases, as well as Google Scholar, in order to review the state of evidence linking liquid biofuels to human health, to characterize the magnitude of potential impacts, and to identify areas in need of more empirical research. The search results indicate that the key pathways to health associated with liquid biofuels consist of four sets of exposures: occupational hazards; water/soil pollution; air pollution relating both to the production and use of the fuel; and the price of food (affecting nutrition). Of these, only air pollution and food price seem likely to meaningfully influence health at the population level: liquid biofuels may improve air quality – at least in urban environments – but could have serious adverse effects on nutrition in food-insecure populations. However, much more work is needed in both areas. Very few studies have explored more indirect pathways to health, such as those relating to land-use change, climate change and economic factors.