Fire Pit Emissions (To Council, #8)

Today I would like to direct your attention to the 2013 decision by the South Coast Air Quality Management District in California, regarding beach bonfires:

http://burningissues.org/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6405

Some key points to note:

“The particulate emissions rate per minute from one beach bonfire is equal to that from: 

• Three average big-rig diesel trucks; or 
• The secondhand smoke from 800 cigarettes. Wood smoke contains many of the same toxic chemicals as secondhand cigarette smoke.”

 “...one fire pit in one evening emits as much fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) as one big-rig diesel truck driven 564 miles.”

“Smoke does disperse and is diluted as it travels downwind from a fire pit. An air quality model indicates that the concentration of PM2.5, the key harmful ingredient in wood smoke, decreases by about 98 percent at a distance of 700 feet from a fire pit...”

“Fine particles in wood smoke contain cancer-causing chemicals as well as common combustion pollutants such as nitrogen oxides. Numerous health studies during wildfires, and in communities where large amounts of wood or other biomass is burned, show that wood smoke causes respiratory irritation and an increase in hospital admissions for respiratory problems. Fine particles also can aggravate chronic heart and lung diseases and are linked to premature deaths in people with these conditions.”

SCAQMD’s decision is that fire pits can remain if they are “located at least 700 feet from the nearest residence”.

I am waiting to hear your justification for allowing backyard fire pits in Woodstock.

Open Air Burning and Children (To Council, #7)

Just like second-hand tobacco smoke, wood smoke is hazardous to infants, children, and the unborn.

You are probably aware that in Ontario it is illegal to light a cigarette in a vehicle with a child on board, and it is also illegal to smoke within 20 metres of a playground or playing field.  Our provincial government is well aware of the danger posed to children from smoke inhalation.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/smoke-free-ontario

Bizarrely, in Woodstock it is legal for many residents near parks and playing fields to light backyard fires, thus subjecting children and their families using these facilities to toxic wood smoke. 

Please ponder the irony implicit in the attached picture, taken at Cowan Park:  no  smoking, but a fire pit (one of many in the neighbourhood) in the background.

Here are some excerpts from the website of Doctors and Scientists Against Wood Smoke Pollution:

“Children are among the most vulnerable to the harmful effects of particulate air pollution. Children breathe faster and inhale more pollutants in proportion to their body weight than do adults. Their immune systems and organs are still developing.”

“Particulate pollution has been shown to affect lung function and lung development.”

“During infancy, the developing lung is highly susceptible to damage from environmental pollutants, including those from wood smoke.”

“Recent research also suggests an association with increased exposure to fine particulate matter during pregnancy and an increased risk of stillbirth.”

“There is also growing evidence that fine particulate pollution, especially with increased levels of PAHs, can lead to impaired neuropsychological development and a lifelong lowered IQ.”

“As a society, we no longer think it is acceptable to force children to breathe secondhand tobacco smoke. It’s time to extend this attitude to wood smoke.”

https://woodsmokepollution.org/children.html

Why does Woodstock allow open air burning?

Open Air Burning and Dementia (To Council, #6)

If physical health problems previously discussed (cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, COPD, and asthma) aren’t enough reason to fear wood smoke, please be advised that there is evidence that PM2.5 attacks the brain, and leads to various forms of impairment, including dementia.

A recent study conducted in Ontario found a positive relationship between PM2.5 and dementia, and between nitrogen dioxide and dementia.  PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide are both components of wood smoke.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28917207

Here is an accessible article that quotes the study:

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/brain-pollution-evidence-builds-dirty-air-causes-alzheimer-s-dementia

Follow that with this study from Sweden:

“Researchers at the Umea University in northern Sweden have studied air quality in homes where wood-fire stoves are used and found that inhaling smoke from the stoves may not only cause asthma and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, but can also enhance the risk of the onset of dementia...

"We have seen that people who live in areas where wood-fire stoves are common run a greater risk of being affected, and that also goes for people who live next to someone who uses wood-fire stoves,"...

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-06/14/c_137253934.htm

Results from the Swedish study:

“The emission of PM2.5 from local residential wood burning was associated with dementia incidence with a hazard ratio of 1.55 for a 1 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5...

Study participants with an address in an area with the highest quartile of PM2.5 from residential wood burning and who also had a wood-burning stove were more likely to develop dementia than those in the lower three quartiles without a wood-burning stove...”

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198283

Wood smoke is hazardous to mind and body.

Why does Woodstock Council allow open air burning?