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North London air pollution campaigner Ruth Fitzharris from Mums for Lungs explains why solid-fuel and wood burning stoves are injurious to health, affecting children in particular.

parents and young children standing in the road outside a school with slogan Mums for Lungs - campaigning for clean air for everyone

A wood-burning stove looks cosy, homely and inviting doesn’t it, but at what cost …?

Although modern eco-stoves do reduce emissions by 90% compared to a traditional open fire – assuming that wood is below 20% moisture content – burning wood at home still produces more pollution than road traffic, according to research from the University of Birmingham.

The cost to our health – and particularly our children’s health – is an overlooked fallout.

At this time of year many people make use of wood burning stoves and open fires to heat their living room and create a cosy atmosphere. However, wood burning stoves and fires emit huge amounts of particle pollution (PM2.5), even when wood is being burnt in the most modern ‘Ecodesign’ stoves and when so-called smokeless fuels are burnt.

Solid fuel open fire 2,950g/MWh / 
Non-Defra exempt stove 2,660g/MWh / 
Defra-exempt/Ecodesign stove 335g/MWh / 
Pellet fired boiler 216g/MWh / 
Oil fired boiler 5.4g/MWh / 
Gas fired boiler 0.72g/MWh / 
Electric heating 0g/MWhThe relative PM2.5 emissions from domestic heating methods (extracted from the Chief Medical Officer's Annual Report 2022 (Figure 10)

Burning wood is a major contributor to local air pollution, tripling air pollution inside the burning home and polluting neighbourhoods via the chimney.

Woodsmoke contains known carcinogens such as benzene, formaldehyde, arsenic and mercury, as well as pm 2.5, that lodge in our organs causing long-term health issues. PM2.5 from wood burning has been linked to a range of conditions, including decreased lung development and function, exacerbation of asthma, allergies, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) and pulmonary fibrosis and cancer. The evidence on woodsmoke is so conclusive that the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have called for a phase out of wood burners. 

a wood burning stove is six times more polluting than an hgv

A wood-burning stove is six times more polluting than an HGV

Wood burning releases more cancer-causing particles (PM2.5) into the UK's air than traffic.

PM2.5 is linked to asthma, heart attacks, strokes, cancer and more

@mumsforlungs

www.mumsforlungs.org

However, public awareness of the toxic pollution being emitted by wood fires remains very low, and so many Londoners are burning in their homes for the comfort and aesthetics of this form of additional heating. To find out more here are some sources below:

  1. London Woodburning Project
  2. Mums for Lungs information on wood burning and flyers (free to download and use)
  3. Doctors + Scientists Against Wood Smoke Pollution website 
  4. Global Action Plan

Want to help or get more information …?

If you would like to help raise awareness of the risks of wood burning locally, please get in touch with Ruth Fitzharris, north London resident and air pollution campaigner,

This article was first published on the Muswell Hill Sustainability Group website.

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