PGAQ #74 by Vic Steblin, Dec 29, 2008

2570 Laurier Crescent, Prince George, BC, 250-564-1123

The health effects of bad air are presented in a “Wood Smoke” brochure from the site www.burningissues.org. Some may consider this biased but the so-called smoke facts should be in the awareness of every citizen and on the conscience of every woodburner in Prince George.

Wood smoke kills 1 in every 10000 people every year, so in Prince George that is about 7 people every year. The number of deaths from fine particulate pollution exceeds the deaths from auto accidents.

A wood stove is 1000 times dirtier than a natural gas furnace. So the effect of 1000 homes heated by natural gas is undone by 1 wood burner.

Wood stoves are maintained and promoted by adults who can tolerate smoke better than children. Wood smoke hurts children and sets a bad example.

Wood smoke is 12 times more carcinogenic than equal amounts of tobacco smoke and attacks our body cells up to 40 times longer than tobacco smoke.

A single fireplace operating for an hour and burning 10 pounds (4.5kgs) of dry seasoned wood will generate 4300 times more carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons than 30 cigarettes.

Each pound of wood burned costs the entire community $2 (2008) in increased medical costs and lost work days. This is $40 for an average fire burning 20 lbs of wood.

Wood smoke cannot be prevented from crossing property lines and in homes without wood stoves the levels of smoke reach at least 50-70% of outdoor levels.

The above items should be upsetting to everyone, burners and non-burners alike. Wood burners in Prince George cannot guarantee that their smoke has no effect so the only reasonable solution is to stop burning wood.