neighbors have decided to burn wood all day and night...

my breathing is really taking a nosedive....

eyes getting red too...

there used to be a time where you could go to your neighbor - "hey, my kid has bad breathing, would you mind lightening up on the wood smoke?" And the neighbor would apologize to you! saying, "gee, I am so sorry, I hope he is ok. We don't need to use the fireplace, don't worry." Now, in our society that has placed willful ignorance on the mantle, instead of some basic human decency, much less Judeo-Christian values of caring and charity, now it is almost an honored achievement to tell other people to jump in a lake...

here is the letter to the editor of my local paper...

We have all now come to learn of the dangers of second hand smoke. Here is the webpage about it from the American Lung Association:
www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp

There is another kind of "second hand smoke" that enters our lives. It is from other forms of combustion. These include the burning of leaves and wood smoke.

Combustion is combustion. The problems that it produces from cigarettes is not significantly different from that produced by burning wood. If our society has now recognized the health problems of burning cigarettes, it is not too far of a leap to extend the concern to burning wood.

This website illustrates some of the dangers:

burningissues.org/car-www/index.html

I used to love the smell of burning wood. Now, as one of the many victims of asthma in our society, it is no longer a luxury that I can afford.

Asthma affects approxiametly 20 million Americans or about 6.8% of the population. In XXXXX, with a population of about 54,000, that figure works out to be about 3700 people. Though, since XXXXX is in a highly industrialized area, the figures are probably higher.

And here is an article which notes that wood smoke aggravates asthma:
www.thereporter.com/letters/ci_7435068

Quoting from the article, "It is well documented that particulate matter pollution can adversely affect lung function and is a health hazard for those with asthma and lung disease who cannot go outside during the winter when neighbors are burning wood."

In addition to its dangers outright, we already have 70,000 chemicals in our air and water, adding just that extra bit of smoke to already very polluted air. There is quite a bit of belief that rising asthma rates are related to pollution.

The science gets debated for many reasons, some of which have nothing to do with science, but with the agenda of those doing the testing. The chemical industry does not want to be legally responsible for causing asthma and other illnesses in people. They sponsor science to disprove the connections.

Everyone loves the beauty of a fire on a cold winter night. In XXXXX, with at least 3700 people with asthma, in an already polluted environment, this could significantly impact the breathing of people right next door to you.

Whether it is a small child or an elderly person, or just someone with particularly bad asthma whose breathing will be affected, I urge members of the public to consider restricting or eliminating burning wood.

Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,