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Wood Burner Smoke Ontario, Canada |
FORUM |
When you can't breathe, nothing else matters!
Burning is an option, breathing is not.
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Monthly Newsletters Please send your name & email address to be added to the mailing list and have it delivered to your email inbox
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Report open fires in the Amherstburg area by calling 519-736-3622 There is no open burning allowed here. You DO NOT have to put up with the smoke! |
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The International Coalition Against Wood Burning
A site dedicated to ending wood burning and the health and environmental effects it causes. This site is a gathering place for people around the world to come together to help clear our planet of wood smoke pollution. To add your group, web site or your name as a supporter of this site, please email Shirley
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FRESH AIR CALGARY A new group has formed in Calgary to fight wood smoke pollution.
Currently, many people are suffering due to outdoor burning. The noxious stench is infiltrating their homes and properties… a very dangerous way to have to live when a ban on outdoor burning would end their misery. No matter what they try, the smoke gets into their homes. The toxin-laden particles cannot be kept out.
If you live in Alberta, please email to FreshAirCalgary@shaw.ca
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Remember, you DO NOT have to put up with the noxious smoke. Report open burning to: 519-736-3622
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Golden, B.C. passed a bylaw prohibiting the installation of any solid fuel burning appliance (Bylaw # 1150) Hampstead, Quebec banned all new installations of wood stoves and ordered existing wood stoves to be removed within 7 years. (Bylaw # 729-2) Montreal, Quebec (Apr. 29/2009) no further installation of any wood burning stoves or fireplaces Suffolk, New Jersey bans all OWBs within 1000 feet of another house Stillwater, Minnesota bans all wood burning or boiling stoves - existing and future (March 11, 2010) Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin bans all new outdoor wood furnaces and wood boilers Savage City, Minnesota prohibits outdoor wood boilers (OWBs) Burnsville, Minnesota banned OWBs December 2008 New Prague, Minnesota - total ban on OWBs
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THE ONLY WISE BURNING IS NO BURNING Much has been published by wood burning appliance makers that might lead one to believe that wood burning is safe. Not so! There is no such thing as 'good' smoke. All smoke carries particulate matter that can be drawn deep into the lungs to cause severe damage. If you can smell smoke then you are inhaling these particulates and the damage has begun. You cannot escape the wood smoke that makes its way into your home through ventilation systems and even minute spaces in doors and windows. No air cleaner will clear the air and make it safe to breathe. The only answer is for all of you to contact your municipal and governmental leaders and demand that they create bylaws regarding wood burning in residential areas. You might want to tell them that, if they have banned cigarette smoking in public areas, why are you forced to breathe wood smoke in your own home and property? We all need to work on this important issue and we need to do it now! Here is a response from a Federal Minister of Environment:
It tells us that money is more important than your health and that is why we need to raise our voices and our pens!
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Rolf
Czeskleba-Dupont of Denmark has written a research report, which was
edited last Reviewers
may order it as an e-book from
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Ontario Residents Click here for a copy of the mpac (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation) Reassessment Request for Reconsideration Form for Ontario. Maybe if more of us applied for tax reductions because of nuisance, local and provincial governments would take notice!
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For those that think that doctors are lax in speaking out on the wood smoke issue and its harmful effects on our health and environment, here are 3 prominent doctors who tell it like it is. Please pass this on to your municipalities and governmental agencies, many of which have no idea of the seriousness of living next to someone who burns and releases the toxins into our air. With gratitude to: Dr. Jim Markos, medical lung specialist (Australian Lung Foundation) Dr. Sverre Vedal of the University of Washington Dr. Michael Aizen from the Australian Medial Association
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaxSgglRpLY
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Outdoor wood burners to go up in smoke Stillwater council set to pass nuisance law
by
Loretta Harding
Thursday, March 11, 2010
After months of fielding phone calls complaining about
pollution and poor air quality from a neighboring outdoor
wood boiler, the Stillwater City Council unanimously
approved the first reading of a new nuisance ordinance
outlawing outdoor wood boilers.
At
the end of the March 2 public hearing, the council
considered an amendment to City Code Section 38-1 by
declaring outdoor wood boilers a public nuisance and
prohibiting them in the City of Stillwater. The ordinance
will be adopted without a grandfather clause, meaning that
even existing wood burners have to go.
Jeff Shaleen, who installed a wood burner in September, told
the council he did everything the city asked and obtained a
permit. The burner was expensive to install, Shaleen said,
and asked that he be granted grandfather rights.
Mayor Ken Harycki and members of the City Council assured
Shaleen that conversations with residents suffering from
respiratory conditions convinced them not to grant
grandfather status. "I understand your plight," Harycki told
Shaleen. "The swing point was the asthma of a resident's
daughter. If my kids were affected health wise and a wood
burner was next to my backyard, I wouldn't want to live next
to it. I know you took steps, but we still get the calls."
City Attorney David Magnuson said that other communities
have declared outdoor wood burners to be nuisances due to
medical issues, and that people were not entitled to damages
for the elimination of the nuisance. "It seems unfair, but
that's what the law provides now," he said.
Before reaching a decision, city staff researched the
effects of wood burner pollution and what other cities had
done about it.
Studies by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
New York State Attorney General's Office showed that outdoor
wood burners cause health hazards for people with
cardiovascular disease and breathing ailments, City Planner
Mike Pogge said. A free-standing outdoor wood burner will
create 12 times the amount of fine particulate matter than
an EPA-approved indoor wood fireplace and 1,800 times more
fine particulate matter than a natural gas furnace, the
study showed.
The
policies of other communities run the gamut, Pogge said. Oak
Park Heights and Forest Lake regulate and prohibit wood
burners within their city limits, providing sound footing
for Stillwater to do the same, he said.
The
only question remaining for council is the effective date.
By default, the ordinance becomes effective on the date of
its publication. However, specific wording in the ordinance
could delay its effective date until the end of the heating
season.
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Looking for people from Ontario who are having wood smoke problems in residential areas.
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There is a site that I feel everyone should join where both pro-burners and anti-wood smoke people can meet, talk and collaborate to try to find solutions to the wood smoke issue. I have joined and hope you all will do the same. This is a great opportunity to be able to hear both sides of the issue and input your thoughts.
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NEW TO CANADA http://www.canadiancleanairalliance.caMission Statement Our mission is to educate public officials, government and all citizens about wood smoke as a major form of hazardous air pollution that affects our health, use of our property, water, crops, livestock, the environment and climate change. We urge citizens everywhere to press for legislative changes to call wood smoke a public nuisance under state health codes and to ban all wood burning." "Breathing wood smoke is smoking!" We are looking to include every province in Canada. Please email to Shirley to start a provincial page for your province.Don't miss the Power Point Presentation by the B.C. Director |
There are 28 signatures on our small neighborhood petition demanding that no more smoke is released in this area!
Please click here to send me your smoke stories and photos to add to my research.
(If you would, please send your town and province or state where this is occurring)
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Click here for the Model Municipal Bylaw from Environment Canada |
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Please sign my online petition. **After signing, hit the back button to return to the site.**
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A hard-working organization registered in Quebec that fights solely for ending wood smoke. |
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I want to make you all
aware of what goes on in Tasmania, Australia.
The first link is the
Tasmanian promo
The second link is what
they don't want the world to see! And, don't forget,
then they burn it and the smoke is unbelievable and a
hazard to the residents who cannot escape it.
I would hope that most of
you would go to
http://www.examiner.com.au/content/letterstotheeditor/
and let them know this is unacceptable.
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Health Authority of British Columbia shuts down outdoor wood boiler
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Judge prohibits outdoor wood boiler in Henrietta Township dispute in Jackson, Michiganby Fredricka Paul | Jackson Citizen Patriot Click here for full story |
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2006 DATA Excerpted from: |
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Climate Change Killing 300,000 Per Year
Excerpted from CNN
LONDON (May
29) -- The first comprehensive
report into the human cost of
climate change warns the world is in
the throes of a "silent crisis" that
is killing 300,000 people each year.
More than
300 million people are already
seriously affected by the gradual
warming of the earth and that number
is set to double by 2030, the report
from the Global Humanitarian Forum
warns.
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Video of what a family in Oak Grove MN is dealing with
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A heart-breaking story and video of a family subjected to wood smoke
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Huntington, NY just totally BANNED OWBs There were no grandfather laws because they never had laws!
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Outdoor wood boilers banned
Submitted by Nancy
Huddleston on May 28, 2009
Excerpted
from
Savage Pacer, Savage, Minnesota
Prohibiting outdoor wood boilers was approved May 18 by the Savage City Council. Smoke and emission problems have been associated with the use of outdoor wood boilers and many cities in the metro area have banned them because of the nuisance. There have been some inquiries at city hall from residents, according to a memo to the City Council from Senior Planner Terri Dill. The devices have increased in popularity recently due to rising costs for standard heating methods. The boilers typically look like a small shack with metal siding and are most often used on larger, more rural lots because of the smoke they generate, according to Dill. The ordinance specifically classifies the wood boilers as a nuisance under the section of the city code about public nuisances affecting health. |
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Montreal Council Approves Stove BanExcerpted from the Montreal Gazette April 29, 2009 It's finally official! There won’t be any installing of wood-burning stoves in any house in the city of Montreal. Yesterday, the city council unanimously passed a controversial bylaw that outlaws the installation of new wood burning appliances such as stoves and fireplaces. They will still allow wood pellet, natural gas and electric stoves. The ban aims to reduce wood smoke, which makes up a large portion of winter smog. Montreal had 45 smog days between Nov. 1 and March 31.
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Prince George, B.C. to Revamp Clean Air Bylaw BYLAW AMENDMENT OPTIONSOpen Burning
Recreational Fires
Woodburning Appliances
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Asthmatic and clean air campaigner Clive Stott was off to the Magistrates court in Launceston Monday December 8th at 9.30am.
He considers
himself fortunate to be able to attend because the last
few years of the forest industry's 'planned-burn' smoke
almost killed him.
A former state health
worker himself, you can read his story and what he is
doing to help people breathe clean air in Tasmania at
www.cleanairtas.com
Update: Clive received just a minor fine, which was paid by his many supporters. Click here to see the video of Clive's stupendous effort to get his point across!
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'Open fire' regulations mark rural-urban split .. Windsor, Ontario
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Burn ban orders will have new teeth - Puget Sound region
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Winter Wood-burning Causes Health Concerns
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Airborne attack sparks lawsuit ... read the article by Chris Halliday on the 'Other Cases' link.
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Launceston City Council and Tasmanian State protester (Rod Farmer) is out to shame the government in order to enforce regulations regarding wood smoke. Click here to read his blog.
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Oakley, California ..To reduce air pollution, wood-burning fireplaces in homes and gas-burning fireplaces or pits in recreation areas will not be allowed, and efficient heating, ventilation and appliances as well as window and wall insulation will be required. In addition, landscaping will be drought-resistant and 220-volt electrical outlets will be provided for recharging electric and hybrid vehicles. Click here for full story.
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Survey raises wood-heating concerns (Maine)
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A petition from our small neighborhood contains the signatures of 27 residents who demand that no more smoke be released from our neighbor's property for any reason! As stated in the petition, all were affected by the stench and noxious fumes that were released from that property. Now that they are able to enjoy their homes & property again, as they have the right to, they do not want any release of smoke again.
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Residents against wood smoke emission particulates |
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"Wood smoke is chemically active in the body 40 times longer than tobacco smoke! The particles are smaller than red blood cells. They transport toxic gases, bacteria and viruses into the lung and directly into the bloodstream. Wood smoke is 12 times more likely to cause cancer than the same amount of tobacco smoke." ( William Pryor, Ph.D, University of Louisiana )
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Here is a partial list of contacts who are working on wood smoke issues from various states and regions.
Please feel free to contact the nearest person to you for help.
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Name |
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State/Province |
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Shirley |
Web sites: http://WoodBurnerSmoke.net |
Amherstburg Ontario, Canada |
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Julie Mellum
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Web site: http://www.takebacktheair.com |
Minneapolis U.S.A. |
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Vic Steblin |
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Prince George,
British
Columbia,
Canada |
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Vicki Morell |
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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 604-322-6744 |
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Julie Burgo |
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA |
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Ernest Grolimund
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19 Johnson Hts., Waterville, Maine USA 04901 207-861-5765 |
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Giulia D'Alesio
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Notre-Dame-De-L'ile
Perrot Phone and fax (514) 425-5288 |
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Janet Irvine
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Nanaimo, B.C. Canada
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Nathalie Doiron
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Quebec Canada |
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Cathy Baiton |
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Alberta Canada |
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JHarold Hensel
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206 Collins Rd. NE Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402
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Newspaper article of April 16, 2008
Jim & Shirley Brandie v Salvatore DeSantis & Marina Estrella
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**You will find the wood in the above photo was put in the barn in 2006, post-injunction. Photos are on the 2006 page.**
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Article from United Press International


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Dioxins and furans are some of the most toxic chemicals known to science. ... The EPA report confirmed that dioxin is a cancer hazard to people. When you burn wood you produce dioxin. A recent Lawrence Livermore study found that while wood burning was the third largest source of dioxin in many cities.
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Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons are produced in abundance when you burn wood. "They are primarily formed by incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels such as wood, coal, diesel, fat, or tobacco. Tar also contains PAHs. Since human civilization relies so heavily on combustion, PAHs are inevitably linked to our energy production. In this sense, PAH can be thought of as marker molecules as their abundance can be directly proportional to combustion processes in the region and therefore directly related to air quality. Different types of combustion yield different distributions of PAHs."� Wikipedia�
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In February of 1995 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission received a report on indoor carcinogenic pollutant emissions from EPA Phase II Wood Stoves: Normalizing for the rate of wood consumption during each test, the average Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) source strength is 32 ng/kg of wood burned. The average Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) source strength is 360 ng/kg of wood. This is the exposure on average to the user. The neighbor, of course, gets the brunt of wood smoke pollution. (NISTIR 5575) U.S. Department of Commerce.
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The EPA estimates that the lifetime cancer risk from wood stove smoke is twelve times greater than that from an equal volume of second hand tobacco smoke. (The Health Effects of Wood Smoke, Washington State Department of Ecology) "Burning two cords of wood produces the same amount of mutagenic particles as: Driving 13 gasoline powered cars 10,000 miles each at 20 miles/gallon. These figures indicate that the worst contribution that an individual is likely to make to the mutagenicity of the air is using a wood stove for heating, followed by driving a diesel car." ( Dr. Joellen Lewtas, Contribution of Source Emissions of the Mutagenicity of Ambient Urban Air Particles, U.S. EPA, #91-131.6, 1991 )
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Last updated: August 31, 2010