Jules Melrose: Woodsmoke negatively affects all of us

Many of us associate woodstoves and fireplaces with coziness in cold New England weather, but we all pay for that coziness with our health.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that “Woodsmoke significantly affects air quality due to the release of fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and other harmful substances. These emissions can degrade air quality, leading to respiratory and cardiovascular health issues, particularly in vulnerable populations.”

Those populations include children, older adults, diabetics, and people with lung and cardiovascular disease.

Conditions the American Lung Association identifies as being caused or aggravated by woodsmoke exposure include coughing, wheezing, eye irritation, asthma attacks, heart attacks, cancer and premature death. Woodsmoke exposure can be 12 times as deadly as cigarette smoking and has a polluting impact on the already-taxed environment.

Recommendations for protecting ourselves from wood-burning emissions, and for the benefits of energy efficient EPA-certified wood stoves, appear on the “resources for consumers” page of the EPA’s website (www.epa.gov).

None of us should have to give up good health to stay warm. With reductions in the use of wood-burning stoves and other polluting appliances, we won’t have to.