Smoke Gets in Your Lungs:Outdoor Wood Boilers in New York State

Smoke Gets in Your Lungs:
Outdoor Wood Boilers in New York State
October 2005

Eliot Spitzer
Attorney General of New York State
Environmental Protection Bureau
October 2005

Excerpts from Report

Full report..
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/aug/August%202005.pdf


Executive Summary
Homeowners, especially in rural communities, are increasingly turning to wood burning units installed outside the home, known as outdoor wood boilers (OWBs), to heat their homes. OWB sales have tripled in New York since 1999, with over 7,000 OWBs sold from 1999 to 2004.
The New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) Environmental Protection Bureau reviewed information on OWBs and analyzed the manufacture, distribution, testing, and sales of OWBs in New York State. We found that while OWBs are advertised as a clean and economical way to heat one’s house and water, OWBs may be among the dirtiest and least economical modes of heating, especially when improperly used. Even when used properly, OWBs emit, on an average per hour basis, about four times as much fine particulate matter pollution as conventional wood stoves, about 12 times as much fine particle pollution as EPA-certified wood stoves, 1000 times more than oil furnaces, and 1800 times more than gas furnaces. Such emissions are significant because fine particulate matter pollution has both short-term and long-term health effects.

II. OWB Pollution
State health and environmental agencies have received a growing number of complaints from owners and neighbors that OWBs produce thick, acrid, foul smoke that permeates buildings and homes, causing not only a nuisance, but also environmental degradation and health problems. Even when operated using clean seasoned wood, OWBs can emit significant pollution because the basic design of the OWB causes fuel to burn incompletely, or smolder, resulting in thick smoke and high particulate emissions. The problem is aggravated when other materials, such as wet wood, processed wood, and garbage are burned. The short OWB chimney and reduced draft often fail to disperse the smoke, resulting in more concentrated pollution at lower heights reaching residents and neighbors. Exposure to this smoke, like other pollutants, can cause or contribute to short-term health harms such as eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation, coughing and shortness of breath, and may exacerbate asthma or trigger asthma attacks. Chronic exposure to smoke can cause long-term effects such as asthma, heart and lung disease, and cancer.

A. OWB Operation and Smoke
Wood smoke is one of the primary contributors to certain types of air pollution in the United States,5 especially in rural areas. Even though wood combustion accounts for only about nine percent of the nation’s home heating needs, it accounts for an estimated forty-five percent of the total fine particulate matter directly released by all fuel combustion used for residential heating.6

B. Human Health Impacts of OWB Smoke
Exposure to various components of wood smoke and the contaminants found in wood smoke has been associated with adverse human health impacts, as discussed below. The likelihood of health effects depends on many factors, such as the amount of smoke to which one is exposed, the frequency and duration of exposure, and the sensitivity of the individual exposed.

Fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5)
Exposure to PM 2.5 can cause short-term health effects such as eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, and shortness of breath and can also affect lung function and worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease. While the upper respiratory system will filter out particles larger than ten millionths of a meter (or microns), PM 2.5 can bypass the body’s natural filtering mechanisms to lodge deep in the lungs.16 Scientific studies have linked increases in daily PM 2.5 exposure with increased respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions, emergency department visits and deaths. Recent studies suggest that long-term exposure to PM 2.5 may be associated with increased rates of bronchitis and reduced lung function, and increased cancer risk. People with breathing problems (such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, or pneumonia) and/or heart problems, and certain members of
the general population (such as children and the elderly) may be particularly sensitive to PM 2.5.17 More than 60,000 deaths each year in the United States can be attributed to exposure to air polluted with PM 2.5.18 Respiratory and cardiovascular diseases have been associated directly with wood smoke emissions.19

For example, a Seattle area study noted increases in asthma and other respiratory disease and declines in lung function among children exposed to wood smoke.20 Long term exposure to wood smoke, like other emissions containing PM 2.5, can lead to chronic bronchitis, obstructive lung disease, and an increased risk of cancer.21

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)
PAHs are a group of chemicals that are formed during the incomplete combustion of coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, and other organic substances such as tobacco. PAHs generally occur as complex mixtures often containing hundreds of different PAHs. Tests on mice show that exposure to PAHs during pregnancy results in higher rates of birth defects, lower birth weights, and difficulty reproducing. Animal studies have also shown that both short-term and long-term exposure to PAHs can inhibit the body’s ability to fight disease. Some PAHs have been categorized as probable human carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.22


Editor’s personal note----The above are only excerpts from this report. Please go to the web site listed above for the complete report. Wood smoke kills!!!! No doubt about it!