Outdoor firepits and fireplaces are a growing pollution source all over the United States. They are popular and inexpensive items at many retail stores. What is not inexpensive is the cost of wood smoke pollution: every pound of wood burned costs society $2 in health expense. We are receiving more and more reports from victims all over the country and even in such an unexpected places as Key West, Florida. There is no safe place or time of year that vulnerable people can avoid this deadly pollution. These open fires expose the owners and their guests to even more pollution than a fireplace or tobacco smoke. There have been all kinds of excuses made to justify wood heat that have obsured the facts that as many as 30,000 Americans prematurly die each year from wood smoke inhaltion and that wood smoke could produce similar effects on p53, phospho-p53, and MDM2 protein expression in the human genes as tobacco. It is important to consider wood smoke exposure as a possible risk factor for the development of lung cancer in nonsmoker subjects.
What we know about the dangers of tobacco smoke can be well applied again here. Wood smoke is chemically active in the body 40 times longer than tobacco smoke. It is 12 times more caciogenic than tobacco smoke and lowers the bodies defense mechanisms for fighting off infections. Just one hour of exposure can lower immune defense 25 to 40 percent. (See burningissues.org for Fact Sheets, Wood Smoke/Tobacco Comparison charts and other backup material.
In underdeveloped countries it is recognized that outdoor fires significantly shorten the average lifespan. It seems foolish to consider them as a lifestyle enhancement. Users of these devices are making an unfortunate health choice for the whole community. The perception is that these are perfectly legal and desirable life style enhancing devices. There have been pure air rights, laws and edicts on the law books since very early times that protect people from smoke, vaphors, ordors and gases. Where is the common sense that should step forward and educate the public about the dangers of wood smoke and ban gratuitous polluting devices? The time to act is now. Educate your town council, your air district, your neighbors. Use the 35 megabytes of scientific information on our site for free by giving out the website: "http://burningissues.org"
This rusting hulk of a grill is sold for an "upscale lifestyle". The dealers say " It is a good thing to burn wood." They justify wood burning as "carbon negative", after all they say, the global warming gas carbon dioxide would go into the atmosphere eventually over tens of years, it is therefore harmless to emit it all in an hour. Why do we recognize forest fires as a major global warming contributor but remain dishonest in our assesment of our individual contributions to the problem? New research indicates that the tiny airborne particles themselves cause local climate change. This means that clouds may persist but not release their rain over these areas.