Heart & Stroke (Why I no longer support this organization)

Heart & Stroke

Way back in 2009, H&S published a position statement entitled “Air Pollution, Heart Disease and Stroke”.
In this document they:

• Linked air pollution with premature deaths
• Recognized wood stoves and fireplaces as “sources of dangerous air pollution” and PM2.5
• Described the ways PM2.5 affects the cardiovascular system and increases the risk of heart disease and stroke
• Recommended that public take action to reduce air pollution by limiting wood burning

Strangely, a decade later, none of this information is reflected in the front end of the H&S website.
Evidence that air pollution, PM2.5, and wood smoke have a detrimental effect on the cardiovascular system has increased, and yet residential wood burning is not included among “lifestyle risk factors”.  There are no warnings about inhaling wood smoke.
“Particulate” and “PM2.5” retrieve nothing in the H&S website search function.

There is even Canadian research showing the link between heart attacks in seniors and wood burning:
https://www.cantechletter.com/2017/03/wood-burning-stoves-fireplaces-increase-risk-heart-attack-canadian-study/

Bizarrely, in 2017 H&S used an image of a fire pit in their lottery brochure:

WHY WON’T HEART & STROKE TELL CANADIANS THE TRUTH ABOUT THEIR FIREPLACES, WOOD STOVES, CAMPFIRES AND FIRE PITS?

The position statement can still be found [archived] on the website...if you know where to look:

https://www.heartandstroke.ca/-/media/pdf-files/canada/2017-position-statements/airpollution-heartdisease-andstroke-ps-eng.ashx?rev=b3f18cce0f4249d0b7349d3e426843d7&hash=BC224590A86220A51F6F093C27F16FFE

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?

Open Air Burning and Heart Attacks (To Council, #3)

Saturday July 7 was a horribly smoky, unpleasant evening in my neighbourhood here in Woodstock.

Are you aware that wood smoke causes heart attacks?

The results of a recent Canadian study are summarized here:

“By comparing pollution data from three cities in British Columbia (Prince George, Kamloops and Courtenay/Comox) with hospital admissions, researchers from McGill and Health Canada found that rising concentrations of fine particulate air pollution caused by wood burning were associated with increased hospitalization for myocardial infarction. During the cold season, when pollution from woodstoves is at its highest, the risk of heart attacks among subjects of 65 years and older increased by 19%.

“We noticed that the association was stronger when more of the air pollution came from wood burning, says McGill University professor Scott Weichenthal, lead author of a new study published in Epidemiology.”

https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/woodstoves-are-good-soul-bad-heart-266643

Here’s a statement from the American Heart Association:

“In sensitive populations, exposure to PM2.5 for even a few hours or days can trigger cardiovascular disease-related deaths from heart attack, stroke, arrhythmia, sudden cardiac arrest, and heart failure. Short- term increases in PM2.5 levels lead to the early death of tens of thousands of Americans every year.”

https://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@adv/documents/downloadable/ucm_463344.pdf

PM2.5 is a carcinogen.

PM2.5 increases the risk of developing diabetes.

PM2.5 causes heart attacks.

PM2.5 is a major component of wood smoke.

How can Woodstock Council justify the policy of open air burning?


The above text was sent by e-mail to each member of Council on July 11, 2018.

Would you do this to YOUR grandmother?

Outdoor Campfire for residents On Wednesday, Sept. 21 Woodingford Lodge residents, family members, staff and volunteers gathered around an outdoor campfire beside the community garden for some songs, roasted marshmallows and hot dogs. The Woodstock Fire Department was also on hand to enjoy the event, while ensuring the event went off safely. Thanks to all of the staff and volunteers who helped make the evening possible!

Pictures and story are from Oxford County's website: 
http://www.oxfordcounty.ca/Services-for-You/Long-Term-Care

I suppose that this event just illustrates the general level of ignorance regarding WOOD SMOKE in Oxford County.
Apparently no one involved (Long Term Care staff, families, volunteers, and [gasp] the Fire Dept.!) had any qualms about exposing a group of vulnerable residents to a hefty dose of particulate matter (of which the World Health Organization tells us that there is NO safe level of exposure), and all the other toxins that are found in wood smoke.

From the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change website:
Air Quality Ontario: Particulate matter
"Exposure to fine particulate matter has been associated with hospital admissions and several serious health effects, including premature death. People with asthma, cardiovascular or lung disease, as well as children and elderly people, are considered to be the most sensitive to the effects of fine particulate matter. Adverse health effects have been associated with exposure to PM_2.5 over both short periods (such as a day) and longer periods (a year or more)."

From the DSAWSP website:  https://woodsmokepollution.org/particulate-pollution.html
"Increases in particulate pollution levels can trigger heart attacks, strokes and irregular heart rhythms, especially in those with preexisting heart or lung diseases, and aggravate other lung  diseases such as asthma and COPD."

"A study of New England Medicare recipients over age 65 determined that the death rate rises for each 10μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, both from short-term and long-term exposure, and even when pollution levels do not exceed US EPA or World Health Organization thresholds."

Should I even mention the carcinogenic food served:  burnt sugar and nitrate-laced processed meat?