The Loma Prietan
December 2000/January 2001
Wood-burning fireplaces and your respiratory health
How do wood-burning fireplaces affect your respiratory health? The fireplace exposes you and your neighbors to combustion by products called smoke. Wood smoke is the "other" second hand smoke. It is hard to get away from because neighborhood smoke seeps indoors even if you don’t burn.
You know about the effects of cigarette smoke on your respiratory system. All smoke is harmful to the respiratory system. Delicate tissues that are infected, irritated and scarred can cause long-term health consequences.
Wood smoke contains many irritating gases and chemicals. The biggest danger is particulate matter so small that 30 particles fit on a red blood cell. Unlike a soft tobacco tar, the wood smoke particles can be solid, chemical coated pieces of wood. Once inside the lung these wooden "daggers" swell up in the moist atmosphere and can cause even more damage than a softer smoke. How your body responds to this challenge has a lot to do with preexisting health problems, previous smoke exposures, and your age and genetics. Cardiopulmonary disease increases risk.
We know that wood smoke causes adverse respiratory health outcomes. Some of these include decreased pulmonary function in children, exacerbation of asthma, increased hospital admissions for lower respiratory infections, increase of sinus infection and bronchitis. Wood smoke exposure makes it hard to recover when you are ill. It can lead to premature death. People should try to avoid wood smoke exposure just as we shun tobacco smoke.
Learn more at the following website: www.burningissues.org.