Smoke

What's In That Smoke?
For many the smell of wood smoke from a fireplace elicits fond memories of hearth and home. There is a lack of awareness, however, that wood smoke has become a major source of air pollution in the United States. Combustion of organic matter such as wood and yard debris releases a variety of harmful substances, including particulates, carcinogens, carbon monoxide, respiratory irritants and toxins. Many people--infants and children, pregnant women, senior citizens, and those suffering from allergies, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia, or other heart or lung diseases--are at risk from the pollution released by wood smoke.

Compounds released during the combustion process interfere with normal lung development and function. Indoor and outdoor air quality can be degraded significantly by the use of poorly designed, non-certified wood stoves. Poor burning processes, lack of maintenance, improper stove installation, and burning wet wood create excessive amounts of pollution. Fires left smoldering to keep a house warm during the night can also be particularly harmful. Smoldering wood burns slower and incompletely, thereby releasing more smoke and gas into the air.

Wood smoke contains tiny particles of creosote, soot, and ash that can remain airborne for up to three weeks. Small particles of solid and liquid matter suspended in the air are called particulate matter, or "PM." PM10 are those particles 10 microns or less in diameter. (In comparison, a human hair is approximately 70 microns in diameter.) PM2.5, or "fine" particulate matter, are those particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter. Inhaling fine PM causes coughing, irritation, and permanent scaring of the lungs. This type of damage decreases lung function, increases the potential for respiratory illness, and may contribute to cancer, heart disease, and changes in DNA, leading to auto-immune diseases. Because of the health threats associated with particulate air pollution, the federal government regulates all particulate matter as one of the six major air pollutants.

Particulate pollution from wood stoves is primarily produced in the winter when stagnant air and temperature inversions limit air movement. At this time smoke is unable to rise and disperse, and this pollution becomes trapped close to the ground in our breathing space. Areas with valleys and poor air circulation can be strongly affected. The small size of these particles allows them to seep into houses through closed doors and windows.

Many of the small particles from wood smoke are too small to be filtered by the nose or upper respiratory system. Therefore, they are able to penetrate deep within the lungs, and they collect in the most remote portions of the lungs called the alveoli, which are tiny air sacs where oxygen enters the blood stream. Due to their ability to evade the defenses of the body, these particles are efficient vehicles for transporting toxic gases, bacteria, and viruses into    the lungs, and ultimately the blood stream. Some toxic compounds are cancer-causing and can attach to the smallest smoke particles and enter the lungs at the same time. Particulate matter can clump together, blocking tiny veins as well as invoking harmful structural and chemical changes in the lungs.

A report released by the Washington State Department of Ecology based on research conducted by the University of Washington in Seattle and the EPA in Boise, Idaho, found that indoor PM10 levels from wood smoke in homes without woodstoves can reach 50-70 percent of the outdoor PM levels. The PM released from wood heating can also cause biological mutations (chromosome defects and genetic damage) in cells of the lungs. Mutagens and carcinogens are not exactly the same and not all mutagenic substances cause cancer. Mutations brought about by wood smoke, however, potentially lead to cancer formation. In 1988 an EPA study found that biological mutations in bacteria exposed to winter air samples increased with higher concentrations of fine particulate matter and were most numerous at the times of coldest temperatures, weekends, and holidays when wood stoves were used the most.

The cancer threat from air pollution is another serious public heath concern. In 1985 the EPA started a research program to clarify the sources of air pollution and to estimate their future cancer risk (Washington State Department of Ecology 1997). Their research determined that motor vehicles and wood stoves were the major sources of particulate air pollution and associated cancer risk in the urban airsheds studied. According to the EPA, many of the substances identified in wood smoke are suspected human carcinogens or co-carcinogens. These compounds include many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as benzo(a)pyrene, and various aldehydes, alkenes, and semi-volatile organic compounds.


Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is also produced when wood is burned. Once in the blood stream, it reduces the ability of blood to carry oxygen to body tissues. Respiratory toxins and irritants, including nitrogen dioxide, are also released during wood combustion. These compounds impair the respiratory system and reduce its ability to fight infection.

Wood Smoke vs. Cigarette Smoke
Although many people associate tobacco smoke with certain health risks, research indicates that second hand wood smoke has potentially even greater ability to damage health. A comparison between tobacco smoke and wood smoke using electron spin resonance revealed quite startling results (Rozenberg 2001, Wood Smoke is More Damaging than Tobacco Smoke). Tobacco smoke causes damage in the body for approximately 30 seconds after it is inhaled. Wood smoke, however, continues to be chemically active and cause damage to cells in the body for up to 20 minutes, or 40 times longer.

Some of the components in wood smoke are free radicals, which steal electrons from the body, leaving cells unstable or injured. Some of these cells may die, while others may be altered and take on different functions. These changes lead to inflammation, which causes stress on the body. EPA researchers suggest that the lifetime cancer risk from wood stove emissions may be 12 times greater than the lifetime cancer risk from exposure to an equal amount of cigarette smoke. (Rozenberg 2001, What's in Wood Smoke and Other Emissions).

What You Can Do
In order to mitigate the negative impacts caused by wood smoke, homeowners should consider converting their wood fireplaces to gas stoves. This type of heating is not only healthier for household members and the community, but it is a more efficient way to heat a home. Wood stoves often draw warm air from a room up the chimney along with smoke, resulting in less heat in a room. Gas stoves, on the other hand, provide a better, more efficient heating effect, with virtually no emissions.
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Don't give up!!!!

Fight like your life depends on it....because it does!  Being Mr. Nice Guy or Ms. Nice Lady does/will not work.  Get angry. Take action NOW!

Smoke-Related Chemical Discovered in the Atmosphere Could Have Health Implications

Smoke-Related Chemical Discovered in the Atmosphere Could Have Health Implications

ScienceDaily (May 17, 2011) — Cigarette smoking, forest fires and woodburning can release a chemical that may be at least partly responsible for human health problems related to smoke exposure, according to a new study by NOAA researchers and their colleagues.

Using a custom mass spectrometer designed by the researchers, the NOAA-led team was able get the first look at levels of the chemical, isocyanic acid, in the atmosphere. Isocyanic acid has been difficult to detect with conventional measurement techniques.

"We found isocyanic acid in a number of places, from air in downtown Los Angeles and air downwind of a Colorado wildfire, to cigarette smoke," said Jim Roberts, lead author of the new paper and a chemist with NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. "We also demonstrated that it dissolves readily in water, which means that humans can be exposed directly if it gets into eyes or lungs."

The health effects of such exposure are not fully known. In the body isocyanic acid, described by the chemical formula HNCO, is part of a biochemical pathway linked with cataracts and inflammation that can trigger cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Until now, the acid had not been measured in air outdoors or in tobacco smoke.

The research team made four separate measurements of HNCO: in the air in urban Los Angeles; in the air in Boulder downwind of the fall 2010 Fourmile Canyon wildfire; in laboratory burning experiments at high concentrations; and in cigarette smoke. The team also made the first measurements of the acid's ability to dissolve in water, which determines the chemical's tendency to dissolve into moist tissues in the body.

"There are literally billions of people in the world who burn biomass for cooking and heating," Roberts said. "If these indoor fires release similar levels of isocyanic acid as the fires we studied in the laboratory, families could be exposed to high levels of the chemical."

Roberts and colleagues from NOAA and University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, the, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the University of Montana published their paper in the May 17 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research project started in the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, where scientists burned brush, tree branches and other vegetation, to better understand the air quality effects of wildfires. They used a new, specialized instrument -- a mass spectrometer built by Roberts and several colleagues -- to measure the amounts of a suite of organic acids, which are emitted by burning vegetation. Such acids are involved in chemistry that can degrade air quality.

During simulated wildfires in the Montana laboratory, levels of HNCO approached 600 parts per billion volume (ppbv). The HNCO was a few thousand times less concentrated in both the air in Los Angeles during a time without recent fires, and in the air in Boulder when the Fourmile Canyon fire was burning upwind.

At about 1 ppbv, the research team calculated that enough HNCO would dissolve into exposed tissues -- lungs and eyes -- that those tissues could be vulnerable to "carbamylation," part of the chemical process triggering inflammation and cataract development. People could experience higher exposure to HNCO near wildfires or in indoor environments where coal, wood or other biomass is burned for heating or cooking. The health effects of chronic exposure to lower-level amounts isocyanic acid, such as those found in the California and Colorado air are not known.

The extreme sensitivity of the new instrument to low concentrations of HNCO made it impossible to quantify the very high levels of isocyanic acid in cigarette smoke.

"We conclude that tobacco-derived HNCO needs to be measured more extensively and potential exposure to it quantified," the scientists wrote, adding that the acid is not currently listed as a "harmful" or "potentially harmful" constituent in tobacco products or smoke.

In their paper, researchers noted other sources of atmospheric HNCO, including pollution-control equipment that is being introduced in California and Europe to reduce emissions by diesel trucks. The systems are designed to reduce nitrogen oxides, which contribute to air quality problems, but they emit HNCO as a by-product. This new source could increase human exposure to the chemical in urban areas.

Moreover, climate change is expected to bring hotter temperatures and drier conditions to some regions of the world, with accompanying increases in biomass burning, including wildfire. "We may be facing a future of higher amounts of HNCO in the atmosphere," said Roberts. "It is fortunate that now we can measure it."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110516161344.htm

Also...Smoke from the Fourmile Canyon wildfire west of Boulder, Colo. in fall 2010 flows toward the city to the right of the image. A new NOAA study found isocyanic acid in the smoke from that fire -- and in urban Los Angeles air, in cigarette smoke, and in laboratory-simulated wildfires. That acid has been linked with health effects from cataracts to cardiovascular disease. (Credit: Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lack, NOAA/CIRES)

Black Rose......and an Obituary--R.I.P.

Black Rose......and an Obituary-R.I.P.

The Black Rose……International Symbol of Woodsmoke Destruction

The Black Rose, the International symbol of Woodsmoke Destruction will bring attention to the eyes of the world the visual realization of the deadly impact of the suffering, death and destruction that Woodsmoke Pollution has made on our planet.

The Black Rose represents millions of lives world-wide that have died from Woodsmoke-related diseases. Adopt the Black Rose as your International symbol of suffering from World-Wide Woodsmoke pollution.

The Black Rose symbolizes the endless hours of relentless suffering endured by those who live in areas with OWBs (Outdoor Woodboilers), Woodburning fireplaces, Woodburning stoves, pellet stoves, outdoor open air burning and all biomass burning.

The Black Rose represents the black smoke from garbage, debris, painted wood, and other toxic material/wood that is burned in fire pits, fire rings, chimeneas, outdoor fireplaces and all Woodburning devices. Sadly, this continues to be sanctioned, condoned and enabled by our leaders and government everywhere.

The Black Rose symbolizes the black tires, toxic Railroad ties, C&D (construction and debris) and other deadly toxic materials that are burned in incinerators in many communities as biomass.

The Black Rose represents the toxic black soot that is found on Woodburning chimneys and the Black Carbon Soot that is destroying our precious, fragile environment.

Asthma, COPD, Cancer, Stroke, SIDs, Cardiovascular, Cardiopulmonary, respiratory and other related diseases are associated with Woodsmoke.

Demand that proactive action be taken to prohibit all Woodburning in every community. Advocate for the right and common decency for every human to be able to breathe healthy air-Woodsmoke-free.

Do not remain silent about a deadly poison that is killing you….Woodsmoke. There is no room for leaders who show complacency, apathy, uncaring, disrespect or disregard about a deadly, toxic issue such as Woodsmoke when your life is being assaulted and threatened.

Send a Black Rose to your city board members, trustees, council members, mayors, representatives, congressmen and women, President, Prime Minister, elected leaders, members of parliament, government and all others who have neglected to fulfil their fiduciary duty to protect all citizens from the deadly effects of Woodsmoke, and who have not yet taken immediate action to prohibit all Woodburning in every city and community.

Send a Black Rose on your letterhead by way of a stamp and ink pad, photo copy, fresh rose, a photo, a painting, a tinted black rose, an artificial black rose. Send IT! Share the story of the Black Rose with others world-wide. Make the Black Rose become your story!
Demand that immediate proactive action be taken by all leaders to ban all outdoor open air burning in every community. Demand that regulations be implemented to phase out the use of all Woodburning devices and biomass burning in every community.

Remember that negligent leaders are a deadly threat to your life and health. Give a Black Rose to show your disapproval of their lack of action, concern, compassion, regard, decency and moral obligation to end Woodsmoke in our world.

By: Anonymous



OBITUARY: DEATH FROM WOODSMOKE

They tried and tried to end the Woodsmoke

It ruined their life and it made them choke

It made them sad and made them weary

It left them broken and left them teary

For those who don’t believe this crime

Help for millions never came on time

Their death resulted in neglect

From the many leaders and their disrespect

They lived their dash and they lived it well

Warning others about the Woodsmoke Hell

Of Woodsmoke and its destructive tale

It’s waiting for you and will impale

Your life on its plume and toxic trail

So heed their warning and heed their call

End Woodsmoke soon for one and all

If not, you’ll end up dead of course

With great sadness and remorse

R.I.P. Death By Woodsmoke!

By: Anonymous



The "living" Obituary, written by Anonymous who is suffering and dying due to woodsmoke, should be a wake-up call to all elected officials who sit quietly, apathetically, and take no action to end woodsmoke. Elected officials who are doing nothing to end poisonous, deadly woodsmoke are leaving a legacy of inaction they should be ashamed of because they could have ended woodsmoke pollution with legislation...but, they did not!

Also, all people that are suffering from woodsmoke in their neighborhood and home should take action too, and inform their local elected officials to ban woodsmoke. Unless you take action now, many loved ones will continue to become sick, and die from woodsmoke emissions.

City has responsibility to protect residents

City has responsibility to protect residents

Letter to the Editor

Sunday, 23 January 2011
Lethbridge Herald


Regarding the Jan. 16 letter, "Base wood smoke argument on local numbers" as with issues like second-hand tobacco smoke and food allergies, perhaps Mr. Forster might consider, with some compassion, people who are at risk.

Wood burning does present a threat to the environment and public health, and wood smoke impacts individuals nearby directly, as smoking does in public spaces. Information on the health effects of wood smoke is available from the Lung Association, the Washington State Dept. of Ecology, and similar authorities.

From the first time I heard my daughter coughing late at night because of a wood fire pit, I knew that should not be part of urban life. My children have each had allergic reactions triggered by neighbourhood smoke, and last winter it gave them burning eyes, irritated, stuffy sinuses, frequent sore throats and coughs and me, a pained chest and terrible, chronic cough. Sometimes two or more neighbourhood chimneys were smoking at once.

We've so appreciated how much better neighbourhood air has been this winter. But on this Monday morning (Jan. 17), we awoke to find smoke blowing in through our registers.

In response to my Nov. 11 letter, a resident phoned to tell me about smoke in their neighbourhood, and said at that time that informing the city had not helped.
No one should ever be forced to breathe neighbourhood wood smoke: not one adult, young or elderly; not one vulnerable growing child. I believe that locally this is not an issue of numbers or of lengthy data collection, but of the city's responsibility to protect residents from harm.

Wood smoke contains harmful compounds and gases, and large amounts of particulate matter. The fine particles cannot be kept outside. Once inhaled, they penetrate deeply into the lungs, where they can injure cells, worsen heart or breathing problems, and may cause permanent damage to lungs. Those are not opinions; they are documented facts.

Cities already have enough pollution, and less-polluting alternatives to wood fires are available. I sincerely hope there is at least one present or future city council member who would advocate protecting clean air, by helping Lethbridge to become wood-smoke free.

Cathy Baiton
Lethbridge


Source:
Lethbridge Herald
Alberta, Canada
Sunday, 23 January 2011


Webmaster: Yes. A by-law to prohibit/ban all wood burning is needed...and soon.

Mother Earth------Woodsmoke Poem

Mother Earth

She looks down upon the Earth in disbelief

Saddened by the horror and by the grief

Barren land and gritty sand

Instead of soil turned over by the hand of man

Forests stripped revealing hell

Burning fires and the lone church bell

Ring out against the haze filled sky

Children with Asthma and tears in their eye

Suffering from Woodsmoke polluting the Earth

Illness and death oh what a curse

Mankind and his desire to burn everywhere

On hillside, in cities and what do they care

But the innocent children still pay the price

With their health and suffering and yes with their life

Death from Woodsmoke is heartless, is cruel and relentless

It is horror, it is sadness, it is illness and senseless

Pain and the suffering of children can be found everywhere

It weighs heavy on parents who truly do care

But Woodsmoke continues to swallow up life

It shows no mercy to children, to husband or wife

Families grieve, families weep, families cry in despair

When will mankind stop burning wood and polluting the air?


Webmaster comment...The above beautiful and sincere poem was written by an individual that wishes to remain anonymous. Thank you for your submission.

January 2011

Breathe At Your Own Risk!--Letter to the Editor

Breathe At Your Own Risk!

Letter to the Editor
London Free Press Website
369 York Street, P.O. Box 2280
London, Ontario N6A 4G1
Posted November 19, 2010

Breathe At Your Own Risk!

It surrounds us. It is a life necessity. We cannot survive without it. AIR! Yet, the message being sent by our Canadian Government is to Breathe at your own risk!

Small Particulate pollution (PM2.5) is destroying our health, quality of life and fragile environment. People suffer and die from the toxic effects of Woodsmoke Pollution. Canada is a burning Nation. Today a most needed bill C-311 was killed by the Harper Government. Once again the message being delivered by the Conservative Government is that the health and well being of Canadians falls into the abyss. Sadly, we become the canary in the cage being subjected to breathing more cancer causing chemicals each day.

The facts are alarming. The statistics shocking! In October, 2010, a statement was issued from environment ministers "Air Pollution has a huge impact on the environment, human health and the economy" said the Honourable Charlene Johnson, Newfoundland and Labrador's Minister of Environment and Conservation, and CCME president.

A study released in 2008 calculated that the costs of illness caused by air pollution (exceeded) $8 billion (annually in Canada). "CCMC is the primary minister-led intergovernmental forum for collective action on environmental issues of national and international concern." The development of the major elements will begin in 2011. Implementation to improve air quality standards will begin in 2013. Meanwhile we become ill, suffer and die from particulate pollution in Canada.

Woodburning stoves, Woodburning fireplaces, pellet stoves, pellet plants, Biomass plants, all Woodburning devices, and all outdoor open air burning contribute to the toxic polluted air Canadians are breathing. All Woodburning must be banned, if not we continue to breathe at our own risk.

Scientific and medical evidence support the claim that Particulate Pollution and Woodsmoke Pollution are causing grave harm to our health and environment.

According to pediatrician, Dr. William Sammons, USA, biomass burning emits the most toxic chemicals known to science, including deadly dioxin, mercury, fine particulate matter and others. "These emissions cause asthma, heart disease, diabetes and other illness in children as well as adults, and should never qualify as the "cleanest" technology under our Clean Air Act," Dr. Sammons said. Over 77,000 doctors, the American Lung Association, Massachusetts Medical Society, North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians and others oppose burning biomass on health grounds.

Renowned global scientists and medical doctors concur and support the fact that biomass burning is contributing to our global warming. Biomass burning is a leading contributor to millions dying from the toxic cancer causing chemicals found in Woodsmoke.

It is long overdue that the Canadian Government becomes fully accountable for the mass suffering of millions of deaths each year from Woodsmoke related diseases, due to air quality and particulate pollution. Sadly the lack of efforts in leading our country toward cleaner air has become as toxic as the air we breathe.

We in Canada should not have to.....Breathe At Our Own Risk.

Written by....Linda Baker Beaudin, Air Is Precious, Cornwall, Ontario K6J 4P8

Clear the air! Calgary Herald, Canada

Clear the air!

By Anne Day

Letter to the Calgary Herald

Calgary Herald July 10, 2010

I am in total agreement with this letter. At the back of my villa are two single family dwellings that both have firepits. They are in use in summer, when everyone likes to have their windows open to enjoy the fresh spring and summer air. However, the smoke drifts into my place, affecting my chronic cough, and I have to close things up. My right to enjoy fresh air is equal to theirs.

I have written twice to my Ald. Ric McIver, and last year, contacted bylaw control. They checked it out but said these were nice people. Nothing was done. I don't know what being "nice" has to do with anything.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald Canada

Natural, Yes, But Wood Smoke is Toxic, Too

Natural, Yes, But Wood Smoke is Toxic, Too

By Deborah Schoch on June 14, 2010

Science is swiftly turning upside down the common notion that a fire built with wood is kinder to humans’ well-being than gas and other modern fuels.

From California to Sweden and China, researchers are reporting that wood smoke contains large amounts of harmful pollutants, including some of the same toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke.

Those reports seem counter-intuitive. After all, wood is a natural substance, a heat source since prehistoric times and a seemingly safe alternative to dirty fossil fuels.

But natural does not necessarily mean harmless, and a growing number of published studies are associating wood smoke with asthma, other lung problems and heart disease — some of the same illnesses associated with smoking and with heavy exposure to car and truck pollution.

“Is it as toxic as something coming out of the tailpipe? We’re not sure yet,” said Robert Devlin, senior scientist in the environmental public health division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.

But the new consciousness of wood smoke’s dangers is spurring scientific inquiries in communities across the West where wood heat is popular: in California, Montana, Idaho, Seattle and British Columbia.

Wood consists largely of two relatively harmless ingredients, cellulose and a strengthening substance called lignin.

If the wood burned completely, it would turn into simple water and carbon dioxide. But instead it forms what scientists call “products of incomplete combustion” — thousands of chemicals, including certain toxic and carcinogenic substances.

Many of the same chemicals form during the burning of other organic matter — whether waste from orchards and rice fields or tobacco leaves wrapped up in cigarettes.

That is why some scientists compare wood smoke to second-hand smoke and cigarette smoke.

“It’s not the nicotine in cigarette smoke that kills you. It’s the other stuff,” said Kirk R. Smith, a professor of global environmental health at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health who has studied smoke’s health effects around the world.

“The worst thing that you can do with this stuff is stick it in your mouth,” Smith said. “The next worst thing is to have it in your house. The next worst thing is to have it in your neighbor’s house.”

Researchers can rattle off long lists of dangers in wood smoke.

They often focus on the tiny particles — a mere fraction of the width of a human hair — that can lodge in tissue and blood vessels and disrupt lung and heart functions. Some are so small that they can pass right through the walls of blood vessels. Wood smoke also contains well-known cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde.

Scientists have published dozens of studies on the human health effects of wood smoke. In 2007, a 40-page review of those studies in the journal Inhalation Toxicology concluded, “It is now well established … that wood-burning stoves and fireplaces as well as wildland and agricultural fires emit significant quantities of known health-damaging pollutants, including several carcinogenic compounds.”

Today, most U.S. regulators focus largely on the fine particles in wood smoke to measure its potential for harm, rather focusing on its cancer-causing ingredients as they did with tobacco smoke a generation ago.

The same is true in California.

“The main issue is that it has particulate matter. When it comes to particles, we treat all particles the same. We feel that all particulate matter is bad for you,” said Linda Smith, head of the health impacts section at the state Air Resources Board.

International public health officials have gone further. In 2006, wood smoke was labeled “probably carcinogenic in humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization.

But the 2007 journal review concluded that it was too early to formally link wood smoke and cancer, and that more research is needed.

An American Cancer Society advisory group recommended several years ago that the society not take a position on the issue, deciding “that the evidence linking wood burning smoke to cancer was much weaker than that for heart and lung disease,” the society’s statistics director, Kenneth M. Portier, wrote in an e-mail note.

Some activists believe California should act more aggressively and treat wood smoke just as it does second-hand smoke or fumes from diesel-burning trucks. The state has classified both “toxic air contaminants.”

Wood smoke deserves the same label, said Jenny Bard, regional air quality director for the American Lung Association in California.

“We’re going after tobacco smoke in all sorts of ways,” Bard said. “We’ve banned it from workplaces and restaurants. And the exposures to wood stove pollution can be so much more concentrated in localized situations.”

This story is a result of a partnership between the Center for Health Reporting and the Chico Enterprise-Record.

Posted in Airborne Hazards, Environmental Safety and Health

Credit to: Fair Warning wesite
http://www.fairwarning.org/2010/06/natural-yes-but-wood-smoke-is-toxic-too/

The impact of wood smoke on children, neighborhoods

The impact of wood smoke on children, neighborhoods

By David Pepper Excerpted from: Napa Valley Register (California, USA)
Posted: 05/30/2010

Though the recent freezing weather may seem like the worst time to call a wood-burning ban, the scientific evidence documenting the harm caused by wood smoke pollution justifies such restrictions.

As a physician, I know all too well the health impacts caused by toxic smoke. Breathing these particles can literally shorten life and send our most vulnerable residents to the emergency room. Wood smoke contains harmful microscopic particles that, when inhaled, enter directly into the lung and bloodstream. Once there, they damage cells, exacerbate asthma and cause lung and heart disease. For asthmatic children, breathing wood smoke can lead to immediate harm, including asthma attacks and respiratory distress.

A recent study by the California Air Resources Board reported that wood smoke can cause a 10 percent increase of hospital admissions for respiratory problems among children, who are at most risk since their lungs are still developing. Exposure to wood smoke may also reduce lung function and reduce the blood’s ability to clot properly. And it doesn’t take much; one fireplace or wood-burning stove can produce levels of smoke in a neighborhood that exceed federal air quality standards and affect all the neighbors. According to the California Air Resources Board, up to 70 percent of smoke from chimneys can re-enter neighboring residences, exposing neighbors to toxic smoke. While we have effectively banned tobacco smoke from most indoor places, there is no way to avoid an equally damaging smoke right at home. Unfortunately, without a stronger wood-burning regulation, community health suffers.

It is important to note that the current regulation allows an exemption for wood burning when no other source of heat is available.

While some may not see it this way, in actuality it is the wood smoke, not the wood burning regulation, that is invasive. There are an estimated 935,000 residents in the Bay Area who suffer from asthma, including 200,000 children and an additional 300,000 who struggle to breathe from emphysema, lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses. When these people have to breathe wood smoke pollution, they struggle even more.

The American Lung Association routinely receives calls from citizens all around the Bay Area who simply cannot get away from clouds of pollution in their own neighborhoods. Many have young children with asthma who need medical treatment due to this exposure. Some of these families have sold their houses and moved to areas with less wood smoke pollution.

Are these health impacts really worth the ambiance of a fire? Fireplaces are inefficient heaters, often taking out more warm air than they produce. Cleaner burning alternatives are available to enjoy the warmth and glow without the smoke, including gas, electric and pellet stoves, which are now designed to look just like their wood-burning brethren.

The American Lung Association repeatedly has given failing grades for air quality to several counties in the Bay Area due to high levels of particle pollution, of which wood smoke is a primary source. We know we can do better. Indeed, air districts such as Sacramento that have adopted wood-burning prohibitions have experienced a reduction in these harmful particles.

Hopefully, after understanding the harm caused by wood smoke pollution, local residents will think twice before lighting their fireplaces and wood stoves. Many already have. By choosing to hold off and use cleaner alternatives to heat our homes, we make it easier for our smallest and most vulnerable residents to breathe.
We’re trying to make our neighborhoods healthier and prevent disease. Won’t you help us?

Dr. Pepper is a family practice physician and American Lung Association volunteer who teaches family medicine

Credit to:
The Wood Smoke Activist
June 2010 Newsletter
Educating the world about the health and climate impacts of wood smoke and combustion aerosols.
Editor: Shirley Brandie
Ontario Director of Canadian Clean Air Alliance http://canadiancleanairalliance.ca
Web site: http://WoodBurnerSmoke.net

North St. Paul, MN - The Most Polluted City In The World

Recreational Fires Must Be Eliminated
WELCOME TO HELL ON EARTH
http://northsaintpaulresident.blogspot.com/

The air is smoky from burning wood in North St. Paul, MN, all the time. It is a nightmare. What used to be a nice place to live has become a living hell.

Fresh air is very rare around here. If you are considering moving to North St. Paul or buying a home here, I strongly recommend that you do not do it no matter how good of a price you get. The only way you will be happy in this town is if you love breathing smoky air almost every day.

The air was smoky 25 out of 31 evenings in July 2009. We had 37 hours of continuous wood smoke in the air Aug. 29th - 31st. There was wood smoke in the air 19 consecutive evenings from Aug. 21st to Sept. 8th. It rained heavily on Aug. 20th, providing the only relief we got from wood smoke for almost three weeks.

Is this a good way to live? No. It is a horrible way to live. Take it from someone who knows. Breathing smoky, polluted air every day is misery.

Every day in this city several people are having recreational fires. Every evening the air is filled with the stench of burning wood. I am one person sick and tired of breathing smoky air every day. Is it too much to ask to be able to breathe fresh air in your own home?

Who is responsible for this wood smoke nightmare? The four city council members are responsible. Council members Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick support wood smoke. They don't care if you have a child with asthma. They don't care if you have to live like a shut-in because the air is so polluted. They don't care if your sinuses burn because the wood smoke is so heavy.

Our four Council members have defended the rights of a small percentage of households to burn wood daily over the rights of all the rest of us to breathe.

You have no right to breathe under Walczak, Bruton, Furlong, and Zick. Burners have the right to burn wood 49 hours a week recreationally. The rest of us have no rights at all.

If you are considering purchasing real estate in the city of North Saint Paul, Minnesota (55109), factor this blog carefully into your decision. Buying a home in this city means that your kids will breathe smoky air while playing in the yard almost every day. Your baby will breathe smoky air in her crib should you leave the windows open around your house. If you leave your windows open you will wake up in the middle of the night choking on smoky air.

Perhaps worst of all, your utility rates will be high because you will have to run the air conditioner instead of leaving the windows open on a cool summer evening. You have no other choice because almost every night the air is too smoky to breathe in this city. Consider this blog your warning.

North St. Paul, Minnesota, is a wonderful community other than the wood smoke. If we could restore fresh air like we used to enjoy, life would be happy again.

Tell others about this blog!

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The Wood Smoke Activist-January 2010 Newsletter-Editorial

The Wood Smoke Activist
January 2010 Newsletter
Educating the world about the health and climate impacts of wood smoke and combustion aerosols.
Editor: Shirley Brandie
1/1/2010


Editorial

Now that winter is upon us many people are suffering greatly from the effects of wood smoke that is invading their homes. Instead of looking out the windows at glistening white snow instead they see dark speckles on the snow, those speckles being output from neighboring wood smoke. I remember it vividly as our snow was speckled also up until the burning was ended.

Not only that, what they see out their windows is clouds of wood smoke of varying colors , the colors depending on what is being burned at the time, surrounding the neighborhood.

Not a beautiful winter holiday scene at all. Can you imagine a Season’s Greetings card with a scene like that imprinted on it?
Now that their hopes for that beautiful special holiday scene are dashed, once again by the neighbor’s “need to burn”, they decide that the stench and irritating fumes are just too much to impose on their guests and give up the idea of a family get-together in their home again this year.

They busy themselves with trying to find something that will get the stench out of their house so that they can try to make the best of it. Nothing works and depression sets in.

In this day and age it is beyond belief that there are people that, even when they have been made aware of the discomfort they are causing with their wood burning, continue to stoke that burner and fumigate the neighbors.
For as many years as I have been researching the psyches of burners, I have not come up with why they have the need to hurt others. I know it is there but I can’t put my finger on it yet. Some have suggested pyromania, control issues, mental illnesses and even a wood fetish.

They say that you cannot help someone if they don’t think they need help. But we must not forget that we are the victims of their smoke. And, we don’t like to be thought of as victims. We are stronger than that! We will fight for our right to breathe fresh air in our own homes and yards!

This is a goal for all of us at the start of a brand new year. Let’s make 2010 the year we take back the air!

Shirley
The Wood Smoke Activist
January 2010 Newsletter
Educating the world about the health and climate impacts of wood smoke and combustion aerosols.
Editor: Shirley Brandie
1/1/2010

Shirley Brandie
http://WoodBurnerSmoke.net

Ontario Director of Canadian Clean Air Alliance
http://www.canadiancleanairalliance.ca

Montreal moves to snuff out wood stoves

Montreal moves to snuff out wood stoves
As air quality deteriorates, city proposes law banning installation of new wood stoves

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/02/04/mtl-wood-stove-ban-0204.html

CBC News

Smog hangs over Montreal on a January day.Smog hangs over Montreal on a January day. (CBC) Montreal is poised to pass one of the strictest laws in the country regarding wood stoves midway through a winter marked by record high levels of winter smog.

The City of Montreal wants to ban citizens from installing a wood stove in new and existing residential homes. Stoves that burn wood pellets will still be permitted.

Winter smog is becoming a major public health problem for Montreal, said Alan DeSousa, the city's executive committee member in charge of sustainable development.

So far this winter, the smog has been so bad that Environment Canada has issued 25 smog warnings, the most of any year on record. Public health authorities say chimney smoke makes up half of the air pollution during the winter in Montreal.

"The health of Montrealers is our priority," said DeSousa in a statement Wednesday.

"With more than 50,000 stoves on our territory, the city is taking action by adopting a law that will contribute to the reduction of the number of premature deaths … [caused by] the quality of air that we breathe."

The Montreal public health department estimates burning a wood stove for nine hours is the equivalent of driving a midsize car for a year, or about 18,000 kilometres of driving.

Proposed law contains exceptions.

While traditional wood stoves will be banned from being installed in new and existing homes, the stoves will be allowed for restaurants and other businesses that do food preparation requiring a wood oven.

The law does not require citizens to remove existing wood stoves, as is the case in the town of Hampstead, Que., which has given residents seven years to convert their stoves to gas or remove them entirely.

'With more than 50,000 stoves on our territory, the city is taking action.'­ Alan DeSousa, city councillor

However, DeSousa is encouraging residents to reconsider their choice of material they burn.

"I invite Montrealers to think about replacing their combustible wood stoves with devices that are less harmful to their health, that of their family and their neighbours," said DeSousa.

The City of Montreal is also calling on the provincial and federal governments to assist with tax rebates to help citizens cover the cost of replacing or converting old wood stoves.

The proposed law will make a first appearance before city council on Feb. 23.

The city will then hold public hearings on the issue.

The popularity of wood stoves spiked on the island of Montreal after the 1998 ice storm, which left some areas of the province without power for day

Wood-burning stoves: Smoke-related complaints, health problems on the rise

Wood-burning stoves: Smoke-related complaints, health problems on the rise

By David Funkhouser | Tribune Newspapers
February 22, 2009

HARTFORD, Conn. — Jodi Blanco said she never got sick until her neighbor installed a wood-burning stove a few years ago.

Now she has been ill for more than a month, she wakes up coughing in her sleep, and her two young children are plagued by breathing problems.

But she can't get anyone to do anything about it, and she's not alone.

"My daughter missed a whole week of school, and my son has a continual runny nose and watery eyes, and he's complaining he doesn't feel good all the time," said Blanco of East Windsor, Conn. "When I open the bay window in front, I can smell the smoke. It's coming in my house, and it's making us sick."

An increasing number of people are firing up wood stoves, furnaces and fireplaces as a hedge against rising heating bills, but wood fuel, steeped in history and romance, has become a health hazard for many.

Even though the number of complaints is growing, the laws regarding wood-burning devices are limited, and there has been little that health and environmental officials can do.

For all the poetry and nostalgia surrounding fireplaces and wood stoves, their smoke is loaded with toxic compounds and particles that have been associated with cancer and severe respiratory problems.

States nationwide are reacting, in some cases banning wood burning entirely on days when air quality is poor. That can happen in the winter when temperature inversions—cold air staying close to the ground below warmer air above—keep polluted air from dispersing.

The worst offenders are outdoor wood furnaces, which typically produce a dirtier smoke than wood and pellet stoves. The units are supposed to be at least 200 feet from other homes and have a smokestack higher than surrounding rooftops, and owners are only supposed to burn clean wood.

John Tarquinio, owner of Fireside Supply in Hebron, Conn., said stove and furnace sales shot up in 2008 when fuel prices spiked. He agreed that misuse can be a problem.

"It needs to be regulated, to be looked at. It needs to be cleaned up," he said.

When Dorothy Alderman and her husband moved to Andover Lake, just a few people among her 100 or so neighbors burned wood, and then only occasionally. A few years ago, that started to change.

"One day, I saw 26 houses with smoke coming out," Alderman said. "It's not just, 'Let's make a fire on the weekend,' it's all the time."

The smoke began to bother her and eventually led to a permanent medical condition, parosmia, in which her sense of smell is so damaged that she cannot stand even slight hints of smoke.

In 2006, after 20 years on the lake, she and her husband decided to move. Now they live in Hebron, which has banned the installation of outdoor wood furnaces.

The Hartford Courant

Chemicals in Wood Smoke Emissions-Letter

Daily Herald
Paddock Publications
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Take a look at what we're breathing
Published: 10/13/2007 11:56 PM

Now, when taking a breath of air, suburban community residents have the following enter their (and their family's) lungs involuntarily due to emissions from wood-burning outside and inside fireplaces: benzene, normal alkanes, triterpenoids, dehydroabietic acid, isopimaric acid, lupenone, friedelin chlorinated dioxins, carbon monoxide, methane, aldehydes, formaldehyde, acrolein, propionaldehyde, butryaldehyde, acetaldehyde, furfural, substituted furans, benzene, alkyl benzenes, toluene, acetic acid, formic acid, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, methyl chloride, naphthalene, substituted napthalenes, oxygenated monoaromatics, guaiacol and derivatives, phenol and derivatives, syringol and derivatives, catechol and derivatives, particulate organic carbon, oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fluorene, phenamhrene, anthracene, methylanthracenes, fluoranthene , pyrene, benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzofluoranthenes, benzo(e)pyrene, benzo(a)pyrene, perylene, ideno (1,2,3cd)pyrene, benz(ghi)perylene coronene, dibenzo(a,h)pyrene, retene, dibenz(a,h)anthracene , and trace elements: including sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon. If you want to breathe healthy air instead, let your elected officials know.

Join others that also want to save our air and our health at www.breathehealthyair.blogspot.com/. Don't be assaulted by unneeded and unnecessary wood-burning emissions!

Elk Grove Village, Illinois

E-mail address---breathe.healthy.air@gmail.com

Ah, lovely wood smoke. Wheeze, gasp-article

The Globe and Mail Canada's national newspaper: published 2/10/96

Ah, lovely wood smoke. Wheeze, gasp

The warmth of a blazing fire holds a special appeal for romantics, outdoor enthusiasts and golden retrievers, but research shows that its smoke poses serious health risks BY ROBERT MATAS
Environment Reporter
Vancouver



OVER the Christmas holidays, the sleepy Okanagan Valley town of Valley town was covered with a layer of sparkling white snow Above it, hanging invisibly in the stagnant air, was a second layer of nasty pollutants.

During this period, smoke from wood stoves and fireplaces laced the air with contaminants, some so small they could pass directly into lungs The weather was "a classical episode" of pollution from residential wood­burning, says Peter Reid, a regional air­quality meteorologist with the B. C. government.

The warmth of a blazing fire holds a special appeal for romantics, outdoor enthusiasts and golden retrievers, but recent research shows that its smoke poses serious health risks "It's not an insignificant problem especially for those with respiratory difficulties, says Scott McDonald, executive director of the B.C Lung Association.

Clean ­air activists have been saying exactly that for the past 15 years. A study published in 1980 by John A. Cooper, titled Environmental Impact of Residential Wood Combustion Emissions and Its Implications, described more than 100 chemicals associated with wood smoke, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde gas, nitrogen oxide, tiny particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Many of the pollutants are similar to those produced by burning tobacco, and some U.S researchers say breathing in wood smoke is comparable to inhaling second­hand cigarette smoke.

The threat to human health comes from the fine particulate matter ­ tiny particles 200 times smaller than raindrops Several epidemiological studies have concluded that inhaling wood smoke particulate matter increases the incidence, duration and severity of respiratory disease, striking hardest at children, the elderly and those with lung or heart disorders.

Concerns over wood smoke in the mid eighties put a damper on residential wood burning in some areas. In the Colorado ski town of Telluride, for example, several air-quality-conscious homeowners went so far as to put legal restrictions on their property deeds that would require their heirs never to allow "solid fuel­burning devices. on the property But most of North America was cold to the idea of putting controls on wood burning smoke. The Seattle region created smoke police to hand out tickets to polluters However, a recommendation from Vancouver's medical health officer to impose a ban on all wood­burning fireplaces and stoves in new residential construction was dismissed by a local alderman as "imbecilic" and rejected by city council.


John Blatherwick, Vancouver's medical health officer, proposed the failed ban on fireplaces and stoves in 1991. But despite ridicule by city aldermen, Dr. Blatherwick still holds the same views, and feels vindicated by a report on the health effects of wood smoke that was completed two years later for B. C.'s health officer.
The report, by Sverre Vedal an associate professor with the University of British Columbia's lung­diseases research unit, said studies show that children living in = affected by wood smoke have lower levels of lung function during and following the wood burning season. It also said children have lower lung function the day after exposure to high concentrations of wood smoke.

Researchers have found that fine particulate matter lodges in and alters lung tissue, increasing the incidents of respiratory illness, cardiovascular stress and aggravating asthma, particularly for children. Only particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter can be inhaled into the lung without being intercepted by the nose or pharynx and only these smaller particles pose a threat to the respiratory system.

Dr. Vedal says that almost all particles generated by wood combustion are smaller than 10 micrometers. Information on physician visits "strongly suggests" that woodsmoke exposure can increase the risk of respiratory illness.
He also reported some good news: There is little evidence that exposure to wood smoke at North American concentrations can be linked to an increased risk of cancer in a healthy person. [ See rebuttal to this point by Mary J. Rozenberg]

He cautioned that any attempt to estimate the health effects of wood smoke involves many assumptions. Generally speaking, he said, air has fewer than 50 micrograms of tiny particulate matter per cubic metre. With this benchmark Dr. Vedal decided to calculate the impact of a 50 micrograms-per­cubic­metre increase in tiny particulate matter due to wood smoke. The results showed that 25 per cent of children in the exposed population experienced a slight decrease in lung function; twice as many children experienced lower respiratory symptoms; four times as many were absent from school; and emergency visits for asthma increased by 20 percent.

About 400,000 Canadian homes use wood as the primary heating fuel, and many more use fireplaces and wood stoves as supplementary sources of heat or because they enjoy the aesthetics of wood burning.

Environment Canada meteorologist Fred Conway says pollution from residential wood­burning is not high on the agenda in Ontario. Wood is not used widely as a fuel in the large urban areas, he says, and the smoke disperses quickly in rural regions.
The Atlantic provinces are more dependent on wood for home heating than else where, but it is in British Columbia that smoke from residential wood­burning poses the greatest threat to health. Here, inversions in weather patterns frequently warm the air on mountainsides, trapping cooler air and smoke at ground level in valleys and allowing the concentration of pollutants to build up.

B. C. Hydro has estimated that about 100,000 homes in B. C. use wood as the primary fuel; an additional 200,000 use fireplaces and wood­burning stoves occasionally, Several valley communities have air quality problems on cold, clear nights.
Vernon, a city of 31,000 located at the confluence of two valleys has among the highest concentration of fine particulate matter in the province, especially during the cold months, but scientists are still searching for a conclusive link to a source. Analysis of air ­quality samples from 1992 to 1994. though, found that the air quality is poor for at least 61 days a year.

Mr. Reid and other researchers say more work on air monitoring is necessary before conclusions can be drawn about Vernon. Meanwhile, in other wood­burning areas, the impact of wood smoke may be mitigated by new wood stoves and fireplaces that ensure more complete combustion, which prevents unburnt gases from going up the chimney. More people are also using dried wood, which creates fewer pollutants.
Clean­air activists, however, say the research results are enough to allow regulatory agencies to set policies dealing with chronic exposure to wood smoke. The smoke may not be the largest source of pollutants in the atmosphere, activists say, but wintertime wood­burning produces them right under people's noses.

Mary J. Rozenberg, a former New York cellist whose health is affected by wood smoke, lives in Point Arena, Calif., and is using the Internet to mobilize U.S. public opinion to push for a ban on wood­burning in fireplaces and stoves. Her homepage, Burning Issues, carries references to articles and technical papers, including one of her own on inhalation toxicology.

Her paper presented the results of a study of airborne particulates smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, which were measured in a residential neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay area. The study showed that particulate concentrations increased most rapidly in the early evening, with the highest concentrations occurring after 11 p.m.
Ms. Rozenberg concluded that the particulates were generated by non­industrial, non­automotive sources, and the most likely source was residential wood­burning.
She says that when she started her research in 1991, everyone said there was no problem and I was nuts. But when they saw the charts, they were shocked how big wood pollution is"


WOOD­SMOKE EMISSIONS
* Indicates a chemical also found in cigarette smoke
Normal alkanes
Cyclic di­ and triterpenoids:
dehydroabietic acid, isopimaric acid, lupenone, friedelin
Chlorinated dioxins
*Carbon monoxide
Methane
*Aldehydes: formaldehyde, *acrolein, propionaldehyde, butryaldehyde, acetaldehyde, furfural
Substituted furans
Benzene
Alkyl benzenes: toluene
Acetic acid, Formic acid
*Nitrogen oxides
*Sulphur dioxide,
Methyl chloride
Napthalene
Substituted napthalenes
Oxygenated monoaromatics: guaiacol and derivatives *phenol and derivatives, syringol and derivatives, catechol and derivatives
*Particulate organic carbon
Oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs):
fluorene, phenamhrene, anthracene, methylanthracenes, fluoranthene ,
*pyrene, benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzofluoranthenes, *benzo(e)pyrene, *benzo(a)pyrene, *perylene, ideno (1,2,3­cd)pyrene, *benz(ghi)perylene *coronene, dibenzo(a,h)pyrene, retene, dibenz(a,h)anthracene
Trace elements: including sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon
Source: U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Above table published with article

Rebuttal to claim that there is no link between wood smoke and cancer.
The Globe declined to publish this rebuttal.
The Globe and Mail Canada's national newspaper
"Ah, Lovely wood smoke Wheeze, gasp" 2/10/96 by Robert Matas, Environmental
Writer, Vancouver
Letter to the Editor:
This letter was written by Mary Rozenberg to the Globe in an attempt to correct a glaring error made by Dr. Sverre Vedal. Unfortunately, the letter was never published by the paper.

Thank you for the excellent article by Robert Matas "Ah, lovely wood smoke. Wheeze, Gasp" on Feb. 10,1996.The article quotes Dr. Sverre Vedal where he incorrectly states that "there is little evidence that exposure to woodsmoke at North American concentrations can be linked to an increased risk of cancer in a healthy person." We now have more than 30 references linking wood smoke to increased cancer risk.Due to similar publication times these were most likely not available to Dr. Vedal at the time of his report.

One of the papers stating that woodsmoke causes cancer at North American concentrations is Mutagenicity, Tumorigenicity and Estimation of Cancer Risk from Ambient Aerosol and Source Emissions from Woodsmoke and Motor Vehicles #91­131.6 , 1991, by Dr.Joellen Lewtas of the US EPA. Dr. Lewtas states "These figures indicate that the worst contribution that an individual is likely to make to the mutagenicity of the air is using a woodstove for heating, followed by driving a diesel car." She lists 14 papers on the subject in her bibliography.

In a study, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Cor Pulmonale Associated with Chronic Domestic Woodsmoke Inhalation, Chest 1993 researchers indicated that "findings raise the possibility of a cause-and­effect relationship between long­term wood­smoke inhalation and lung cancer. Given the mutagenic and airway irritant effects described for wood smoke (4 references given) we believe that this possible deleterious relationship needs to be addressed in future studies regarding risk factors for lung cancer in nonsmokers."

I have measured polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) for several weeks. PAH are know cancer causing agents The exposure to PAH from woodburning was longer in duration than that from traffic and on many days it was also higher in the amount of the concentration. My study was published in Inhalation Toxicology is being followed by a current study by Dr. Wayne Ott of the US EPA that includes 15 minute averages by 2 PAH machines (one Indoors one Outdoors) for a full year of data. Already the data reveal that neighborhood exposures produce a huge mountain of PAH pollution in the evening in the burning months and that when there is no burning in the late spring there is almost no detectable neighborhood exposure to PAH.


Further analysis of woodstove incinerators reveals that because of the way wood is burned in them they produce more carcinogens. With an oxygen starved fire, they produce more PAH emissions than from a fireplace.. So the irony is that while the wood is burned more efficiently to create more heat the byproducts are far more carcinogenic. The fact is that wood is an inefficient and dirty fuel. On the energy ladder wood is one step above dung. Dr. Judith T. Zelikoff published research in 1994 showing that just one hour of exposure to woodsmoke altered immune defense mechanisms. Dr. Wm Pryor showed that the cancer causing free radicals from woodsmoke are chemically active in the body 40 times longer than tobacco smoke. Even if there were not over 100 toxic chemicals including dioxin, in the smoke, there is evidence linking ingestion of asbestos sized particles such as those from woodsmoke with cancer.

We do not recommend new woodstoves as the solution to a dirty fuel. To learn more please visit our Internet home page at "http://BurningIssues.org".
Sincerely, Mary J. Rozenberg, President Burning Issues/Clean Air Revival
http://burningissues.org

Postscript
In Chemical Deception Sierra Books, 1991, Dr. Marc Lappe writing about Nasopharyngeal Cancer states that in addition to diet, virus, and genetic make up, there is a fourth factor in cancer risk for this disease.In his words "the inhalation of certain chemicals found in the environment, particularly in woodsmoke"..."What is clear is that synthetic substances generated either through food preparation or wood burning contribute far more to this tumor than does any unadulterated "natural" substance."

NOTE....Wood-smoke emissions are deadly!