Highlights of the Burning Issues Website
Guide for New Visitors
The Burning Issues web site contains a great deal of information. This page lists some of the highlights of the site. We suggest that you peruse this information first. The top pages are:
- Science
- Preface by Dr. Wayne Ott. A very short overview.
- Twelve Year Study of Particulate Pollution in a residential neighborhood of Redwood City, CA showing that there hasn't been much, if any, improvement in a dozen years.
- World Health Organization: 2 million premature deaths every year due to air pollution. They urge cleaning up the air. AIDS kills over 2 million people a year. (Economist, 2/18/08). Why do we think that AIDS is a catastrophy but air pollution isn't.
- Wood smoke particle. A microphotograph of an actual wood smoke particle removed from a patients lung and depictions of the size of such particles.
- Temperature inversions play an important role in trapping smoke on clear cold evenings.
- EPA Report showing that certified wood stoves deteriorate over time.
- Carnegie-Mellon study looking for effects of a coal-fired power plant found larger contribution of wood smoke than that of the coal-fired power plant and comparable to that of the smelter in down town Pittsburgh.
- Wood Smoke is an important source of Dioxins and PCBs.
- Neighborhood monitoring done by Burning Issues.
- GASP presentation entitled "Effects of AIr Pollution on Cardiovascular Disease"
- Educational Materials
- Brochures
and Fact Sheets
- 2007
Brochure This is a general wood smoke brochure. It
explains the wood smoke problem and other air toxins and talks about
what you can do about it.
- Cancer Brochure This brochure describes the ways that wood smoke is particularly dangerous for cancer patients and steps that can lessen their exposure.
- 2003 WOOD SMOKE Brochure Black & White (183KB PDF)
Bibliographic References for 2003 WOOD SMOKE Brochure (116KB PDF)
- Medical effects fact sheet
- 2007
Brochure
- Slide Show Provides a quick introduction.
- Brochures
and Fact Sheets
- Medical Effects
- Wood Smoke Emissions Effects on Host Pulmonary Immune Defense, Judith T. Zelikoff, Ph.D. In a laboratory study at New York University, animals exposed to wood smoke immediately had a 25% decrease in the lungs' ability to clear bacteria, and after just 1.5 to 2.5 hours, had decreases of 23% to 61% in lung function.
- 2007 New England Journal of Medicine article showing that women are more sensitive than men to the effects of wood smoke.
- Legal
- 1992 judgment by Oregon Court of Appeals found that smoke intrusion is trespass. This may be an important precedent for judicial protection from particular wood burners.
- Scientific Papers
- John A. Cooper's 1980 paper on residential wood burning was the first paper on the subject that we have seen and it seems to have said it all. Full text.
- Climate Change
- May people believe that at worst burning wood is "carbon neutral". Particles Cause Climate Change shows that belief to be incorrect.
- Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat and also increase the total Particulate Pollution.
- Economic
- 150 Billion Dollar Problem Using arguments similar to Jared Diamond in "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed", New York: Viking, 2005.
- An Engineer's Perspective on Heating with Solid Fuels.
Keep in mind and use the Search Page which provides a google search of all the pages on the Burning Issues web site.
Site Map
Major outline of the web site structure.
Additional Information
Economics
Education
Slide Show
Latest News
Archives
Legal
Library
Medical Effects
Asthma
Cancer
Childrens Disease
Dioxin Slide Show
Heart Lung
Immune Disease
Mortality Morbidity
Science
Abstracts