Wood stoves produce more carcinogens than car smoke
Wood stoves in urban areas are responsible for half of people's exposure to cancer-causing chemicals.
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New research shows that wood-burning stoves in urban areas are responsible for nearly half of people's exposure to cancer-causing chemicals found in polluted air particles.
PAHs are formed into fine particles of polluted air by burning fuels, and have long been known to have carcinogenic effects.
The new study examined PAH sources and found that the use of wood in stoves produces more carcinogenic effects than diesel or gasoline used in vehicles.
The analysis was conducted in Athens, Greece, and researchers confirmed that burning firewood in the home is a major problem for urban air quality across Europe, and that excessive exposure to wood smoke can cause serious health effects.
"Athens is not an exception, but rather is more representative of this rule," said Athanasios Nenes, a researcher at the Foundation for Research and Technology in Greece, who is one of the members of the team responsible for the new study.
Research published last year showed that burning firewood in homes is the largest source of small particulate air pollution in the UK, producing three times more road pollution than vehicles, despite only 8% of the population using wood stoves.
Even new wood-burning stoves that meet the eco-design standard emit 750 times more particulate matter pollution than a modern truck.
According to scientists, wood stoves have tripled the level of harmful pollution inside homes, and their producers must include a health warning with them.
The new research, published in the journal Atomspheric Chemistry and Physics, has been sampling the air in Athens every day for a year.
These were analyzed for 31 PAHs and a wide range of other chemicals.
The Athens study showed that a lot of exposure to PAHs occurs on winter days with low winds and rain, which means that wood smoke does not disperse in the air.
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