Now that pretty well everyone in Parksville has experienced what it’s like to be smoked out thanks to the burn piles, perhaps those of you who are heating your homes with wood could consider how you are affecting your neighbour’s health and well-being.
The World Health Organization announced that PM 2.5 is cancerous. Wood smoke is primarily composed of PM 2.5, which is the size of bacteria and cannot be kept out of even tightly-sealed homes. Scientific testing has proven wood smoke is more hazardous than cigarettes and can cause problems such as heart and respiratory problems like asthma and cancer.
The free radicals in wood smoke stay in the body 40 times longer then cigarette smoke. You can always walk away from a smoker that isn’t the case in your own home.
Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment wrote:
“If you are not a smoker, burning wood is probably the greatest threat to your health as anything that you do. But it is also a threat to your neighbors’ health, as inappropriate as blowing cigarette smoke in the face of the passenger in the seat next to you. More than likely your neighbours are less than enthusiastic about sacrificing their health for your freedom to burn wood. A civilized society would suggest they shouldn’t have to.”
Bill LewinParksville