Wood-burning stoves 'can be as deadly as exhaust fumes' by producing smoke that can cause heart disease

Published 07th Feb 2011

They're a timeless, charming and effective way to keep your home warm and inviting in the winter months.

But the smoke from wood-burning stoves or open fires is as dangerous to your health as breathing in emissions from a car exhaust, research has revealed.

Inhaling the invisible particles in the smoke can lead to fatal heart disease and cancer, toxicology experts warn.

Until recently, little was known about the potentially harmful effects of breathing in smoke produced by open fires and wood-burning stoves or boilers.

But the research by Danish scientist Professor Steffen Loft suggests the tiny airborne specks in the smoke can be a silent killer because they are small enough to be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs.

Similar particles created by motor vehicle exhaust and coal-fired electricity plants have been linked to fatal heart disease, asthma, bronchitis, cancer and other health problems.

Professor Loft said: ‘The particles from wood smoke can certainly cause fatal heart or lung disease. In human cells that were exposed to them, substantial DNA damage and mutation took place. It was comparable to the effects of particles given off by traffic.’

The full scale of the risk is not yet known, he said, but pointed out that in developing countries where wood fires are used inside homes for cooking and as a heat source, the smoke is a major cause of disease.

Individually the specks are too small to be seen by the naked eye, but together they are seen in the air as smoke.

Professor Loft’s research team analysed and compared particles in the air from a village in Denmark where most residents used wood stoves, to a neighbouring rural area with few wood stoves, and to pure wood smoke particulate matter (WSPM), or the smoke specks themselves.

According to the results, published in the Chemical Research in Toxicology journal, when WSPM was tested on human cells, it caused damage to DNA and inflammation as well as higher levels of cancer-causing carcinogens.

Professor Loft also found that in rural areas, wood smoke particles were contaminating nearby fields of crops which, if eaten, caused DNA damage to liver cells.

In such areas, he said, people were already feeling the health impact. ‘I’ve heard many complaints from individuals upset about neighbours’ wood-burning stoves because they are causing them problems such as asthma,’ he added.

‘There are improvements being made to the wood stoves to cut the level of emission, but the most important thing is how people use them.’

By cutting up wood into small pieces, only using dry wood, and ensuring a good air supply to the combustion, dangerous particle emissions can be greatly reduced, he said.

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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