Environmental Toxins: Wood Smoke is Carcinogenic

While a roaring fireplace provokes images of safety and warmth, we now know that wood smoke is dangerous to our health. Burning wood leads to large amounts of particle pollution; thousands of studies have linked particle pollution to health problems such as asthma attacks, diminished lung function, respiratory ailments, heart attacks, and strokes. Particle pollution is especially dangerous for children because their lungs still are developing.

Thank You for Not Burning

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers fine particle pollution to be its "most pressing air quality problem." The California Air Resources Board says that residential wood burning is the single largest contributor to winter particle pollution, contributing more particle pollution to the air than cars, diesel vehicles, or industry. Wood smoke also contains toxic and carcinogenic substances like benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and dioxins. Wood burning fireplaces may soon be a thing of the past.