Comment Sent to BHA website--

To All Readers and Supporters of Breathe Healthy Air website

Webmaster---The below is a comment sent to the Breathe Healthy Air website received on July 2, 2011. This comment is similar to the other hundreds of other e-mails that we have received since our inception. After you read the comment, please continue reading and see what you can and should do to end wood burning in your community.

You must take action NOW if you want to survive and end the horrors of woodsmoke emissions(PM2.5). If you do nothing, you and your family will become even more ill, and die prematurely. Now is the time for you to end woodsmoke.........

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"I live in a lake area just north of Valparaiso, a small community in northwest Indiana (USA). Here the problem is rapidly getting worse instead of better. It's 11:56 PM, July 2, 2011. It's 72 degrees out, but the air stinks so badly of wood smoke that you can't open your windows to let in a cool night breeze. This has become the norm. All it takes are a few neighbors with fire pits, outdoor fireplaces, and a few compulsive indoor fireplace users who insist on fires year-round. They seem to believe they have some sort of fundamental right to foul the air that everyone must breathe. If you complain, YOU'RE the problem."

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Please read the information below-----

Welcome to the world of Hell experienced by millions due to woodsmoke.

The below are suggestions and comments to help you end woodsmoke in your community......

Woodsmoke emissions are killing you. You must act to stop it. If you do nothing, it will never, never end!!!!!!!!!

Check out these websites for great information and help.

1. Breathe Healthy Air

http://www.breathehealthyair.blogspot.com/


2. Clean Air Revival

http://burningissues.org/car-www/index.html


3. Wood Burner Smoke

http://woodburnersmoke.net/

4. Canadian Clean Air Alliance

http://www.canadiancleanairalliance.ca/


5. The Smoke In Action From The OWB...

www.myspace.com/freedomofair


6. RAWSEP
http://woodsmokenuisance.spaces.live.com/


7...New York
http://www.woodsmokefreeny.com/

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BHA Supporters and Friends,

Yes, wood smoke emissions and other toxic emissions will harm you and your family and make all of you sick. Wood smoke kills too.

We hope you do not mind straight-talk about woodsmoke. That's what you will get from us.

The following websites will give you factual, scientific, medical, educational, and legal information about wood smoke, the pollution it creates, and the harm it does to people.

A..http://burningissues.org/car-www/index.html Great to print out information!!!!

B...http://www.myspace.com/freedomofair

C...http://www.breathehealthyair.blogspot.com/

D...http://woodburnersmoke.net/

E...http://www.woodsmokefreeny.com/

Note...Please visit and read the above five web sites.


There are no filters of any kind that will filter out the small particulate matter (PM2.5) that wood smoke emits into the air. The particulates go directly into the lungs of anyone who breathes it. There, they fester, and then the problems begin. This medical information can be found on the burningissues web site. You can/should print out fact sheets from the burningissues web site.

Testing can be done. You will have to rent a unit to do that. It can be expensive. But, it is an option to consider.

General comments----...

1...Our experience is that the EPA (state and federal), Pollution Control Board, state government, the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, local health boards, and town councils never/seldom help people like you/us.  Why?  Who knows.  Lack of knowledge of the harmful and deadly effects of woodsmoke may be one reason.  There are other reasons: lazy, don't care, etc....

2...This wood/toxic burner knows he/she is harming you and your family.  You must act now before it is too late.

3...Wood burning is a public and private nuisance.  When the wood smoke emissions involuntarily enter your property, that violates your property rights. Woodsmoke is really an assault and battery on your person.


Here are more suggestions.....

It is your choice as to which ones (or all) you wish to do-----

1...You must document the smoke and the illnesses as they occur.  You need to start a Daily Log and record the time of the smoke, the intensity, and what it did to your family (coughing, wheezing, nauseous feeling, etc.). Take pictures. Start a file for all correspondence---IMPORTANT!

2...Send a letter to your neighbor asking him/her to stop burning and explain how the woodsmoke/toxic smoke affects you and your family.  You need this documented for the future (for a lawsuit or when you go to the Town Meeting to plead your case)

3...Ask your neighbors to co-sign the letter to the burner.  Ask your neighbors to go to the Town Meeting with you and voice their concern.

4...Send a letter (for documentation again) to the Mayor and the Town Council formally asking for their help.  Include attachments from the burningissues web site for support.

5...Send a letter to the local newspaper explaining the negative health effects of wood burning.  Ask others to write too.

6...Record all doctor visits.  Have your doctor write the Mayor and Town Council supporting your request to ban wood burning/toxic burning because it is causing harm to your health..

7...Contact your local legal aid or ACLU for help.  They might take your case pro bono.

8...The law known as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may be violated.  Check with the legal people, Town Council, or Town Health Department official.

9...Call 911 and report that you are being assaulted from the woodsmoke/toxic smoke that is entering your home without your permission..

10..Call your local/county health department and file a formal complaint about the air pollution in your home from an outdoor source.

11...File an official complaint with the state pollution control board or local/state EPA.  You need to have an official record of the pollution.

12...File a police report because wood smoke/toxic smoke is a private and public nuisance and is against the law.

Don't give up.  It will not be easy.  But, the alternative is that you are letting someone harm you and your family if you do nothing.  What is more important than your family's health and life?


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The following is great general information for you....

New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
Website
April 20, 2008

What's In That Smoke?

For many the smell of wood smoke from a fireplace elicits fond memories of hearth and home. There is a lack of awareness, however, that wood smoke has become a major source of air pollution in the United States. Combustion of organic matter such as wood and yard debris releases a variety of harmful substances, including particulates, carcinogens, carbon monoxide, respiratory irritants and toxins. Many people--infants and children, pregnant women, senior citizens, and those suffering from allergies, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia, or other heart or lung diseases--are at risk from the pollution released by wood smoke.

Compounds released during the combustion process interfere with normal lung development and function. Indoor and outdoor air quality can be degraded significantly by the use of poorly designed, non-certified wood stoves. Poor burning processes, lack of maintenance, improper stove installation, and burning wet wood create excessive amounts of pollution. Fires left smoldering to keep a house warm during the night can also be particularly harmful. Smoldering wood burns slower and incompletely, thereby releasing more smoke and gas into the air.

Wood smoke contains tiny particles of creosote, soot, and ash that can remain airborne for up to three weeks. Small particles of solid and liquid matter suspended in the air are called particulate matter, or "PM." PM10 are those particles 10 microns or less in diameter. (In comparison, a human hair is approximately 70 microns in diameter.) PM2.5, or "fine" particulate matter, are those particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter. Inhaling fine PM causes coughing, irritation, and permanent scaring of the lungs. This type of damage decreases lung function, increases the potential for respiratory illness, and may contribute to cancer, heart disease, and changes in DNA, leading to auto-immune diseases. Because of the health threats associated with particulate air pollution, the federal government regulates all particulate matter as one of the six major air pollutants.

Particulate pollution from wood stoves is primarily produced in the winter when stagnant air and temperature inversions limit air movement. At this time smoke is unable to rise and disperse, and this pollution becomes trapped close to the ground in our breathing space. Areas with valleys and poor air circulation can be strongly affected. The small size of these particles allows them to seep into houses through closed doors and windows.

Many of the small particles from wood smoke are too small to be filtered by the nose or upper respiratory system. Therefore, they are able to penetrate deep within the lungs, and they collect in the most remote portions of the lungs called the alveoli, which are tiny air sacs where oxygen enters the blood stream. Due to their ability to evade the defenses of the body, these particles are efficient vehicles for transporting toxic gases, bacteria, and viruses into    the lungs, and ultimately the blood stream. Some toxic compounds are cancer-causing and can attach to the smallest smoke particles and enter the lungs at the same time. Particulate matter can clump together, blocking tiny veins as well as invoking harmful structural and chemical changes in the lungs.

A report released by the Washington State Department of Ecology based on research conducted by the University of Washington in Seattle and the EPA in Boise, Idaho, found that indoor PM10 levels from wood smoke in homes without woodstoves can reach 50-70 percent of the outdoor PM levels. The PM released from wood heating can also cause biological mutations (chromosome defects and genetic damage) in cells of the lungs. Mutagens and carcinogens are not exactly the same and not all mutagenic substances cause cancer. Mutations brought about by wood smoke, however, potentially lead to cancer formation. In 1988 an EPA study found that biological mutations in bacteria exposed to winter air samples increased with higher concentrations of fine particulate matter and were most numerous at the times of coldest temperatures, weekends, and holidays when wood stoves were used the most.

The cancer threat from air pollution is another serious public heath concern. In 1985 the EPA started a research program to clarify the sources of air pollution and to estimate their future cancer risk (Washington State Department of Ecology 1997). Their research determined that motor vehicles and wood stoves were the major sources of particulate air pollution and associated cancer risk in the urban airsheds studied. According to the EPA, many of the substances identified in wood smoke are suspected human carcinogens or co-carcinogens. These compounds include many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as benzo(a)pyrene, and various aldehydes, alkenes, and semi-volatile organic compounds.
[For information about the health risks from exposure to air toxics. See EPA's Health Risk Assessment brochure
(see http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/3_90_022.html)]

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is also produced when wood is burned. Once in the blood stream, it reduces the ability of blood to carry oxygen to body tissues. Respiratory toxins and irritants, including nitrogen dioxide, are also released during wood combustion. These compounds impair the respiratory system and reduce its ability to fight infection.

Wood Smoke vs. Cigarette Smoke
Although many people associate tobacco smoke with certain health risks, research indicates that second hand wood smoke has potentially even greater ability to damage health. A comparison between tobacco smoke and wood smoke using electron spin resonance revealed quite startling results (Rozenberg 2001, Wood Smoke is More Damaging than Tobacco Smoke). Tobacco smoke causes damage in the body for approximately 30 seconds after it is inhaled. Wood smoke, however, continues to be chemically active and cause damage to cells in the body for up to 20 minutes, or 40 times longer.

Some of the components in wood smoke are free radicals, which steal electrons from the body, leaving cells unstable or injured. Some of these cells may die, while others may be altered and take on different functions. These changes lead to inflammation, which causes stress on the body. EPA researchers suggest that the lifetime cancer risk from wood stove emissions may be 12 times greater than the lifetime cancer risk from exposure to an equal amount of cigarette smoke. (Rozenberg 2001, What's in Wood Smoke and Other Emissions).

What You Can Do
In order to mitigate the negative impacts caused by wood smoke, homeowners should consider converting their wood fireplaces to gas stoves. This type of heating is not only healthier for household members and the community, but it is a more efficient way to heat a home. Wood stoves often draw warm air from a room up the chimney along with smoke, resulting in less heat in a room. Gas stoves, on the other hand, provide a better, more efficient heating effect, with virtually no emissions.
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Don't give up!!!!

Fight like your life depends on it....because it does!  Being Mr. Nice Guy or Ms. Nice Lady does/will not work.  Get angry. Take action NOW!

Keep in touch.

Breathe Healthy Air Coalition