Canadian Cancer Society (Why I no longer support this organization)

Like many health organizations, the Canadian Cancer Society condemns smoking, but turns a blind eye to residential wood burning.

FACTS:
Air pollution and particulate matter were both classified by IARC as Group 1 carcinogens in 2013.
That means “CARCINOGENIC TO HUMANS”.
Anyone near a wood fire is exposed to a megadose of particulate matter.

In 2016 Public Health Ontario and Cancer Care Ontario jointly published a report entitled The Environmental Burden of Cancer in Ontario, in which they ranked 23 environmental carcinogens.
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) ranked #3, far ahead of other well-recognized carcinogens such as asbestos, formaldehyde, and secondhand [tobacco] smoke.

Despite the evidence, the Canadian Cancer Society website has minimal warnings about wood smoke.

Using the website’s search function, there are no hits for the term “PM2.5”
“Particulate matter” retrieves the pages “Air Pollution and Cancer” and “Risk factors for lung cancer”, although neither links PM to recreational wood burning.
But wait; here it is!  Buried WAY down, under the heading “Pollutants from cooking and heating”, we find:  “Burning wood and other fuels, such as dung or grass...can also increase the risk for lung cancer.”
And a second mention, on the “What is air pollution” page, where “indoor burning of coal or wood” is listed as a major source of indoor air pollution.
On the “7 ways to reduce your exposure to air pollution - indoors”, we finally find a piece of good advice: “Switch from a...wood-burning heat source...”, unfortunately followed immediately by this howler:  “...lower your risk by using efficient stoves and fireplaces with effective chimneys.”

There is no mention anywhere about RECREATIONAL wood burning:  backyard fire pits, campfires, or fireplaces.

Why isn’t residential wood burning treated like smoking?
This message should be upfront on the website, where the public is encouraged to “Make healthy choices”.

Diabetes Canada (Why I can’t support this organization)

More evidence of the general level of ignorance, even in the healthcare community, of the dangers of localized air pollution and biomass combustion.

Like other health-related charities, Diabetes Canada condemns tobacco use:

Smoking is a deadly habit. One of the best things you can do for your heart, diabetes and overall health is to quit now.

And then they post THIS image promoting their camps:  child and teens inhaling toxic wood smoke.

On their page “Diwali and Diabetes”, one of the gift basket suggestions is a source of indoor air pollution:

• Scented candles or home fragrance such as incense sticks. This gift will be enjoyed long after the holiday is over.

https://www.diabetes.ca/media-room/news/diwali-and-diabetes--less-sweets-and-more-sweetness--?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_campaign=GeneralPost&utm_content=diwali

Although exposure to fine particulate is a known risk factor for the development of diabetes, the terms “particulate”, “PM2.5” and “air pollution” yield no useful results when searched on their website.

Lung Association (Why I no longer support this organization)

Lung Association

The Lung Association appears to be either

1) ignorant of all the health issues associated with air pollution, wood smoke, and PM2.5, OR

2) unwilling to offend or alienate the wood-burning public by telling the truth.

Concerning fireplaces, we are told to “burn smart”, properly install and maintain, store wood properly, and (laughably) “...open a window a little bit to ensure a good supply of fresh air into your home.”  🤣🤣🤣

Did HPBCA, WETT, or another industry organization write this nonsense?

Shouldn’t the Lung Association condemn residential wood burning as strongly as it condemns smoking???

Do you have a fireplace in your home? Wood burning indoors can produce high levels of dangerous particles and gases that can be easily inhaled into the lungs. Be sure to "burn smart" if you use a fireplace.

https://www.lung.ca/lung-health/air-quality/your-healthy-home/healthy-home-tour/living-room

Many Canadian homes have fireplaces for ambience and extra warmth. Some homes burn wood as the main source of heat. It is important to follow a number of key steps when burning any wood indoors.

Tips:

• Inspect your chimneys and flues annually for corrosion, blockages, and cracks that could let dangerous gases (e.g. carbon monoxide) enter your home.
• When using your fireplace, open a window a little bit to ensure a good supply of fresh air into your home.
• Do not burn plastics, newspapers, magazines, painted wood, or cardboard as they can all release dangerous chemicals into your home's air.
• Make sure wood is stored outdoors, dried, kept off the ground, and loosely covered.
• When installing a fireplace, be sure that it is installed by a certified contractor who will ensure proper installation and safety. Check to see if they are a Wood Energy Technical Training (WETT) certified member.
• Poorly maintained and inefficient fireplaces can lead to difficulty breathing, coughing, irritation of the lungs, and asthma attacks in sensitive individuals.
• Ensure your wood burning appliances are being used properly and not causing breathing problems or making air unpleasant for your neighbours.

https://www.lung.ca/lung-health/air-quality/your-healthy-home/healthy-home-tour/living-room/fireplace

SHOCKINGLY  bad advice offered about outdoor burning:  

1) no distinction concerning fuels (wood, charcoal, gas, propane)

2) implying these activities are safe under appropriate air quality and weather conditions, and if “not located too close to the home”

In reality a wood burning fire pit will blanket an entire neighbourhood with toxic smoke.

Barbequing and sitting around the backyard fire pit are common Canadian summertime activities. It is important to use them properly to prevent any health issues from exposure to pollutants.

• Monitor your air quality and weather forecast to determine wind conditions and any air alerts that may be occurring when you're planning on using a barbeque or fire pit. Try not to do any outdoor burning on a hazy or smog day, when the air quality reading is poor, or when there is no wind as it will keep wood smoke particles close to the ground where people can inhale them. Also, do not light a fire pit during windy conditions as this can cause sparks to fly around and cause the fire to get out of control.
• Make sure your barbeque or fire pit is not located too close to the home as any drifting smoke can easily get indoors through windows or doors.

https://www.lung.ca/lung-health/air-quality/your-healthy-home/healthy-home-tour/outside-home/barbeques-and-fire-pits

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 Cancer (To Council, #1)

On calm summer evenings, many Woodstock neighbourhoods are filled with wood smoke from backyard fire pits.

I would like each member of Council to spend a few minutes perusing a report entitled “Environmental Burden of Cancer in Ontario”, a joint publication from Public Health Ontario and Cancer Care Ontario, available on the internet.
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/eRepository/Environmental_Burden_of_Cancer_Key%20Messages_2016.pdf
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/eRepository/Environmental_Burden_of_Cancer_in_Ontario_2016.pdf

This report ranks 23 environmental carcinogens, and concludes that 3 of those carcinogens are responsible for 90% of new environmental cancer cases in this province.

One of the top 3 carcinogens is FINE PARTICULATE MATTER (also known as PM2.5), and it is a key component of WOOD SMOKE.

BY ALLOWING OPEN AIR BURNING, WOODSTOCK COUNCIL IS THEREFORE INCREASING THE CANCER RISK FOR EVERY RESIDENT OF THIS COMMUNITY.

One of the reduction strategies for PM2.5 given in the report is “increasing the distance between areas with concentrated combustion emissions and where people live and work.” [p.5] 

Clearly, fires shouldn’t be burning in backyards.

You should notice how far down the list are other substances commonly recognized as carcinogenic, such as asbestos, formaldehyde, and second-hand tobacco smoke.  Consider, too, that there is no way to avoid inhaling wood-smoke-polluted air from a neighbour’s fire pit.

Backyard fires are illegal in many Ontario cities, including Guelph, Waterloo, Brantford and Cambridge.

In light of the cancer risk, I would appreciate hearing your justification for continuing to allow open air burning in Woodstock.

The above text was sent by e-mail to each member of Woodstock Council on June 27, 2018.

The holiday tradition we would be better off without (2nd edition)

Quiz:  What holiday tradition is bad for everyone's health, and also bad for the planet?
Hint:  "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."

Yes, that cheerful wood-burning fireplace that confronts us everywhere in image and song at this time of year, is actually a little toxic incinerator.

Burning wood, leaves, or any other biomass releases carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but perhaps the deadliest component of wood smoke is fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

In a joint publication, Public Health Ontario and Cancer Care Ontario identified PM2.5 as the third greatest environmental carcinogen in this province (way ahead of asbestos, formaldehyde, and second-hand tobacco smoke, for comparison).  Solar UV radiation and radon claimed the first two spots.
If that isn’t enough bad news, a recent study funded by Health Canada and conducted in B.C., found that heart attacks in seniors increased as the level of PM2.5 in the air increased.

This festive season, could we consider the health of everyone around us, and NOT light the fireplace?

Peace, goodwill, clean air, and good health to all.

References:
Public Health Ontario/Cancer Care Ontario.  The Environmental Burden of Cancer
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/BrowseByTopic/EnvironmentalandOccupationalHealth/Pages/Environmental-Burden-of-Cancer-ON.aspx

Biomass Burning as a Source of Ambient Fine Particulate Air Pollution and Acute Myocardial Infarction
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28177951

Earth Institute, Columbia University.  The damaging effects of black carbon.
http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2016/03/22/the-damaging-effects-of-black-carbon/

Smog? In Woodstock, it's public policy.

With wry amusement I read the "Green Tips" column by the Woodstock Environmental Advisory Committee in the July issue of What's on Woodstock (p.12), entitled "Every breath you take".
To be fair, the concerns expressed about smog, its environmental and health effects, and the suggested tips, are all valid.
Conspicuous by its absence, however, is any mention of one of our greatest seasonal pollutants: WOOD SMOKE, which is all too often in evidence on calm summer evenings.
Is it not hypocritical of Woodstock to encourage me to avoid volatile organic compounds, while forcing me to inhale the same substances from nearby fire pits?

When the current Open Air Burning Bylaw was passed in 2013, the Fire Department reported that 1,282 burn permits had been issued; that worked out to about one toxic backyard incinerator for every 30 residents of Woodstock.  The northwest corner of the city, near Cowan Park, is peppered with them:  fire pits, chimineas, and (for those with a serious commitment to burning) large outdoor masonry fireplaces (gasp).
To put this situation in context:  it's illegal in Ontario to light a cigarette within 20 metres of playground equipment or a public sports field.  But properties near Cowan Park can light backyard fires, and blanket the soccer fields with wood smoke, thus exposing young athletes and their family members to lung-clogging fine particulate matter and an assortment of toxic substances.

Open air backyard burning is illegal in many cities, including Guelph, Waterloo, Hamilton, and Toronto.
Shouldn't our elected officials be protecting air quality and our health, rather than enabling wood smoke pollution?

Those of us who value clean air can only attempt to light a (metaphorical!) fire under Woodstock Council.

Excerpts from Oxford County's website, on Open-air burning:
"Burning wood will release various pollutants into the air that may be harmful to us and the environment, including particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ozone, and water vapour. Wood smoke may also contain cancer-causing substances, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and benzene formaldehyde."

"Some of the substances found in smoke from open-air burning are so small that our noses and upper respiratory systems are not able to filter them out. As a result, they may end up settling deep within our lungs, potentially damaging cells that protect our airways. 

Breathing in wood smoke is associated with an increase in respiratory irritations and symptoms such as coughing, chest tightness, asthma attacks and shortness of breath. Exposure to wood smoke may also decrease lung function and is associated with an increased number of visits to emergency departments and hospitalizations." 

The above text was published as a UR Opinion piece on the Sentinel Review's website on July 26, 2016.