Smoke from camp fires and old wood/coal stoves

[KinAlberta]

I’ve never smoked but I’ve never been an anti-smoking fanatic. The odd smoker around me doesn't bother me in the slightest. Five or ten in a smLl lunchroom did but otherwise no big deal. That said, I always wondered about campfire smoke.

I grew up around the old leaky coal/wood cook stoves. Cabin would fill with smoke from the stoves until the fire got going. Then there’s the camping in campgrounds filled with smoke haze. Never thought that could be very healthy.

Wood Smoke vs. Cigarette Smoke

People who would never dream of smoking a cigarette choose to burn wood. Yet wood smoke contains many of the same toxic and carcinogenic substances as cigarette smoke, including benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, and dibenz(a,h)anthracene.

And wood smoke produces far more particulate pollution than cigarette smoke does.

EPA researchers estimate the lifetime cancer risk from wood smoke to be 12 times greater than from a similar amount of cigarette smoke.”...

http://www.familiesforcleanair.org/health/health4/


Summer Health Myths Debunked - CBS News
“...the Environmental Protection Administrationestimates that wood smoke is 12 times more carcinogenic than equal amounts of tobacco smoke, and that it stays active in the body up to 40 times longer than tobacco smoke. In fact, the American Cancer Association says inhaling the smoke from or eating well-done, charred meat regularly "may increase your risk of pancreatic cancer by up to 60 percent, according to findings from a (2009) University of Minnesota study."
An easy way to avoid this is to stay upwind of the grill. If you're doing the grilling, do your best to position yourself away from the smoke. Sometimes, it's unavoidable when ...”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/summer-...yths-debunked/

[Red Bullets]

When forest fire smoke is in the air there are indexed air quality warnings. Not much different than a smoky campfire.

Odd that in previous generations many people that burned wood and coal for a lifetime did live long lives.

[Buckhead]

Odd that in previous generations many people that burned wood and coal for a lifetime did live long lives.[/QUOTE]

Probably because they got plenty of physical exercise and ate almost zero processed foods.

[JeanCretien]

Breathing in smoke is bad. Go figure. Maybe Ottawa can tax firewood to help compensate.


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[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by JeanCretien

Breathing in smoke is bad. Go figure. Maybe Ottawa can tax firewood to help compensate.


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Oh, I'm sure they are on their way to banning wood stoves and fireplaces. Heaven forbid we could survive a winter without having to pay for fuel and its requisite laundry list of unexplainable fees...

[HalfBreed]

Burning wood is carbon zero.

[KinAlberta]

Stand downwind of campfires, buy a newer wood stove or open more windows in the cabin and don't get upset when someone at the table next to you lights up a cigarette.

Hahaha
Correction: upwind.

[KinAlberta]

Originally Posted by Buckhead

Odd that in previous generations many people that burned wood and coal for a lifetime did live long lives.

Probably because they got plenty of physical exercise and ate almost zero processed foods.[/QUOTE]

And don’t most lifetime cigarette smokers live long lives?

Play Russian Roulette with a gun and on average most clicks won’t kill you either.

[ward]

Originally Posted by KinAlberta

Stand downwind of campfires, buy a newer wood stove or open more windows in the cabin and don't get upset when someone at the table next to you lights up a cigarette.

Downwind ?

Life would be a lot less enjoyable without campfires.

[KinAlberta]

Post corrected.

Yup. I love campfires and bonfires.

Forest fire fighting costs would be a bit lower without campfires. Only 5% of US woldfires per the article below:

USA:

Study Shows 84% of Wildfires Caused by Humans | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine

By Jason Daley
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
FEBRUARY 28, 2017

“The cost of those human-induced fires is staggering. The researchers estimate that man-made fires have tripled the average fire season over the past 21 years from 46 days to 154 days. It now costs over $2 billion per year to fight the fires, and that figure does not include the impacts to recreational lands or local economic impact that fires can have.

Rice reports that debris burning starts the most human-caused fires, at 29 percent, with arson the cause of 21 percent of fires. Equipment use causes 11 percent of fires, while campfires and children playing with fireworks or matches each cause 5 percent of fires. The Fourth of July, predictably, is the biggest day for wildfires, with 7,762 fires ignited on that date over the 21-year study period.

Balch tells Joyce that there is a solution. She suggests conducting more prescribed burns on forest land to decrease the amount of fuel in the forests after 100 years of fire suppression.
...”



https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...ans-180962315/

[ward]

Forest fighting costs would be cheaper without dumb humans that do not manage their fires properly. Most people manage to have a campfire without starting a wildfire.

[Buckhead]

Originally Posted by KinAlberta

Probably because they got plenty of physical exercise and ate almost zero processed foods.

And don’t most lifetime cigarette smokers live long lives?

Play Russian Roulette with a gun and on average most clicks won’t kill you either. [/QUOTE]

Well none of us are getting off this planet alive.

Does it matter if you are old and decrepit or just very old and cantankerous

[KinAlberta]

Originally Posted by ward

Forest fighting costs would be cheaper without dumb humans that do not manage their fires properly. Most people manage to have a campfire without starting a wildfire.

Health care costs too.