EPA lists wood smoke as top carcinogen

[madrone]

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/07/pollution_from_burning_wood_in.html#preview

Great. Now my neighbors hate me.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

The reader comments below the article are better than the article itself. I like the one where a reader points out that news organizations are getting leaner and dumbed down- and that the article is more opinion masquerading as news reporting. Noted are the use of emotionally loaded words like "belched' and "spewed" instead of "emitted'. Sound biased to you?

Our local 'big city' newspaper is so strapped it can't even afford to hire enough good copy editors. All kinds of embarrassing errors are creeping in- bad spelling, bad grammar, lack of fact checking.

Some good lines:

"This is exactly why Old Media is dying. This isn't Information. It's Raw Opinion wrapped in the blanket of Journalism.

Absolutely Sickening."

"Sounds like someone is just trying to outlaw a cheap fuel source."

I see you quoted in there. Good going.
Thanks for an interesting read.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

Pollution from burning wood in stoves, fireplaces and elsewhere is the top cancer risk in Oregon's air, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency analysis.

Burning wood and other organic material creates a greater risk than even benzene, a carcinogen belched by cars and trucks in the tens of thousands of tons each year, the analysis indicates. By contrast, the main toxins from incomplete combustion of burning wood -- a class of chemicals known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (you can smell them) -- measure in the low hundreds of tons a year from Oregon's residential sources. >

this is garbage. check out the epa "analysis" listed.
i guess the eco friendly nut would rather burn nat gas or use hydro electric or nuke power>those are so much better that woodsmoke for the environment....

 

[Pagey]

Won't someone please think of teh childrenz?!!eleventyone1 :roll:

 

[madrone]

I wrote a letter to the editor. I've been on the verge of cancelling my subscription for a while now, and this pushed me a little closer.

 

[WoodMann]

OK- so when are we gonna get shutdown.................... :;

 

[BrotherBart]

OK- so when are we gonna get shutdown.................... :;

A week from Tuesday.

 

[Todd]

OK- so when are we gonna get shutdown.................... :;

We won't get shut down, the Gov will find a way to tax us for the carbons and pollution we release.

 

[Pagey]

OK- so when are we gonna get shutdown.................... :;

We won't get shut down, the Gov will find a way to tax us for the carbons and pollution we release.

This

 

[Todd]

OK- so when are we gonna get shutdown.................... :;

We won't get shut down, the Gov will find a way to tax us for the carbons and pollution we release.

This....

Sucks?

 

[BrotherBart]

"EPA lists wood smoke as top carcinogen"

Fantastic. I always wanted to come in first at something.

 

[BrotherBart]

We won't get shut down, the Gov will find a way to tax us for the carbons and pollution we release.

Hey Todd. Me and you could trade carbon credits with each other. Maybe we could start a hearth.com carbon credit company and buy and sell wood stove carbon credits.

Since our stoves burn pretty clean then we should get credits that we can sell to people so they won't lose their old smoke dragons.

 

[Todd]

We won't get shut down, the Gov will find a way to tax us for the carbons and pollution we release.

Hey Todd. Me and you could trade carbon credits with each other. Maybe we could start a hearth.com carbon credit company and buy and sell wood stove carbon credits.

Since our stoves burn pretty clean then we should get credits that we can sell to people so they won't lose their old smoke dragons.

:lol: Sounds like a plan to me, but you better go back and make your stove legal again and unplug those combustion air holes you rigged. I don't want you to go to prison for cheating your carbon credits.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

sounds like our old friend "bohdi" has found an editorial friend.

plain and simple, a modern EPA certified woodstove does not "belch" smoke. methinks the writer of this article needs to clue his neighbors in on the advantages of a modern clean burning woodstove rather than arbitrarily slamming the practice as a whole.


OMG! i just read the article (probably should have done that first ) i noticed in comments that old bohdi's website was mentioned. noted that the data was 7 years old and that the writer admitted that an unreasonably large percentage of stoves in use were pre phase 2 units. but the graph included shows the story , with oil and gas shown as way lower in PM release , of course they are , how many solids do you find in liquids compared to solid? pellet stoves werent mentioned BTW. the one bright spot is that the "comments" section was literally all "pro hearth" so i think the woodburning community stepped up and slapped this fool around pretty good.

 

[webbie]

The chart and even the article clearly shows and says that open fireplaces and uncertified stoves are the problem.

They also mention stopping ag burning, which produces a LOT of smoke....and they will require older stoves to be retired when houses are sold.

I have no problem with the article. The truth hurts.....poor wood burning practice is not a good thing!

 

[fossil]

The naivete and shallowness of the author's article are eclipsed only by the inanety of some of the respondents' comments. The bar graph tells the story. If you're going to choose to burn wood today, then choose to burn wood responsibly, using the most efficient appliances the technology has made available. Rick

 

[LLigetfa]

I have no problem with the article. The truth hurts.....poor wood burning practice is not a good thing!

Ja, but that also includes burning green wood so are they going to legislate that all firewood must be kiln dried? They're already leaning toward heat treating for bugs.

 

[BrotherBart]

I wish somebody would take measurements around here when I am choking on everybody's barbecue smoke. The guy on the place next to me belches more smoke cooking one round of hamburgers than my stoves do all winter. The same guy that was surprised three years ago when I told him I heated with wood. While we were standing in his yard all three of my stoves were cranking. :cheese:

But my personal favorite is fabric softener sheets. Some evenings I can walk outside and the chemicals from those things make the woods smell like the perfume counter at Macy's. I don't even wanna know what chemicals I am breathing from that crap.

 

[madrone]

The chart and even the article clearly shows and says that open fireplaces and uncertified stoves are the problem.

They also mention stopping ag burning, which produces a LOT of smoke....and they will require older stoves to be retired when houses are sold.

I have no problem with the article. The truth hurts.....poor wood burning practice is not a good thing!

There's nothing wrong with the info. My complaint is that it takes eleven paragraphs to get past the scary stuff and learn that stoves aren't so bad. You are a reader, Craig, it's clear, but most aren't. The first 3 paragraphs are far enough for most. In my letter I requested a follow-up article about certified stoves and good wood burning practices. A report like this is a perfect opportunity to educate the public.