In a new study, scientists said wood-burning stoves pose a risk to children and the elderly and should be sold with a health warning.
Researchers from the University of Sheffield placed pollution detectors in 19 homes for a month this year and collected data every few minutes.
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The wood stoves were ignited for four hours at a time, and during operation, the levels of detected harmful particles were three times greater than when they were extinguished.
The British newspaper “The Guardian” stated that these particles are associated with a number of health problems and can cause damage to the lungs, especially in the young and the elderly. This pollution may also be linked to lung cancer, bronchitis, other respiratory infections, strokes, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
The team said that this study was one of the first to examine the effect of burning wood on pollution levels in a realistic environment, and the results were “cause for concern.”
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“People who live with those who are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, such as children, the elderly and the vulnerable, are advised to avoid wood stoves,” Rohit Chakraborty of the University of Sheffield, who led the study, told the Guardian.
“If people want to use it, we recommend reducing the time to open the stove while lighting or refueling.”
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And hooded stoves are less airborne than an open fire, but every time the door is opened for refueling, pollution levels peak again.
All of these levels take a few hours to dissipate, and by the time they drop again, someone opens the doors to refueling, causing a renewed peak.
They found that people who loaded wood two or more times over the course of the session experienced up to four times as much pollution as those who didn’t refuel throughout the evening.
Chakraborty and his team did not call for a ban on these devices, just to clarify how dangerous these devices are and when they are safe to use.
“It is recommended that the new residential fireplaces be accompanied by a health warning at the points of sale in order to indicate the health risks to which users are exposed,” they wrote.
James Haydon from the University of Nottingham, who participated in the study, told the Guardian newspaper that the devices that might cause harm must be identified.
“Most of our participants were not aware of this, and more needs to be done to increase awareness of the risks,” he explained.
“There is no reason to believe that particulates from wood burning stoves are less toxic than those from any other sources,” said Jonathan Gregg of Queen Mary University of London, author of a recent report on indoor air pollution.
Source: Daily Mail
