New study shows that wood-burning stoves in cities are responsible for over half of human's exposure to chemicals that cause cancer and are usually found in air pollution particles.
Carcinogenic Effects of PAHs
Carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be found in small pollution particles and are generated by burning fuels. In a recent study, researchers looked at the sources of PAHs and discovered that wood burning created more than diesel fuel or gasoline used in automobiles.
Athens, Greece is where the study was conducted; nevertheless a similar occurrence has been reported elsewhere. Home wood-burning is a major problem for urban air quality in Europe, and excessive exposure to wood smoke may have serious health consequences, according to the researchers.
Although just 8% of the population uses wood burners, recent studies reveal that they are the UK's single largest source of tiny particles in air pollution, emitting three times as much as road traffic, according to The Guardian.
However, even ecodesign-certified wood stoves still generate 750 times more micro particle pollution than a typical HGV vehicle. Scientists believe that wood stoves should be labeled with a health warning due to the fact that they increase indoor pollution levels by three times.
The scientists were able to quantify the percentage of PAHs generated by each source since certain chemicals are linked to specific sources of pollution. Wood-burning accounts for 31 percent of yearly PAH emissions, whereas diesel and oil accounts for 33 percent of PAH emissions, and gasoline accounts for 29 percent of annual PAH emissions.
Although certain PAHs are more carcinogenic than others, the amount of cancer risk to persons from wood burning grew to 43%, with diesel and oil at 36% and petrol at 17% when this was taken into consideration.
Efforts to Regulate Wood Burning Emissions
The yearly average concentration of PAHs in the Athens study was less than half of the WHO recommended level but more than the EU limit. Using the WHO's statistics, the researchers estimated that the PAHs in Athens would cause an additional five cancer cases for every 100,000 individuals.
European action and policies to regulate [wood] burning emissions are now necessary, as they may lead to large advantages for public health.
While PAHs may be the primary carcinogen in wood smoke, Nenes claimed there were numerous additional chemicals that were harmful to the human body.
All types of illnesses, from cancer to oxidative stress, which causes heart attacks and strokes, obesity, accelerated ageing and diabetes - everything that has to do with inflammation in the body - may be caused by wood smoke.
Will Replacing Wood Burning Stoves Help?
Scientists tend to imagine that burning wood is somewhat safe, since wood is a natural product, Gary Fuller, a professor at Imperial College London, said.
These figures serve as a sobering reminder that burning wood produces pollution. There has been a 16 percent rise in benzo(a)pyrene emissions since 2000 in the UK owing to domestic wood burning, according to statistics on PAH emissions.
Dutch authorities have offered up to €2,000 (£1,700) in subsidies to encourage residents to replace their wood-burning stoves and fireplaces in order to improve air quality in the city of Utrecht.
Research conducted by Nenes and colleagues previously found that nighttime wood smoke produced more harmful compounds than expected. To put it another way, this means that pollution is more harmful to health when it is concentrated close to the source instead of oxidising over a few days.
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