Indoor air pollution (IAP), due to cooking and room heating with unprocessed solid biomass such as wood, cow dung and agricultural wastes is a public health problem in rural India. Biomass smoke contains a large number of mutagens and carcinogens like benzene, benzo(a)pyrene 1,3-butadiene, and transitional metals. But the genotoxic and mutagenic effects of IAP from cooking with biomass on rural womenfolk is largely unknown. In view of this, the department is pursuing research on health impact of IAP with special reference to genetic and epigenetic changes and carcinogenesis in the airways.