Page 2678 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 June 2012
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The risks from particulate matter pollution are highest for children, older people, and people with heart disease or a lung disorder. It is estimated that one in five Australians already have a lung disorder, including asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Medical experts support this view. For example, Professor Richard Ruffin AM, emeritus professor of medicine, provided me with this comment:
Wood-smoke contains particulate matter and gaseous pollutants such as carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen which adversely affect respiratory health.
Wood smoke exposure can cause acute exacerbations in people with asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Further, wood smoke exposure can initiate cough and chronic bronchitis and also may affect the normal lung development in children.
Minimizing wood smoke exposure for Australian communities will have a positive impact on current & future health of those communities.
Perhaps the best way to understand the impacts of wood smoke on Canberrans is to hear the stories from Canberrans themselves. I have had many people talk to me about this and I will read just one story as an example:
Wood fire smoke makes me feel unwell. I live in Campbell and most homes in the neighbourhood have chimneys which belt out smoke on any Autumn and Winter night. What I hate most is waking up in the middle of the night coughing and/or having an asthma attack as the smoke enters my home. This happens every time one of my neighbours lights their fire. My child suffers from asthma and allergies and he is affected as well; his eyes in particular burn and sting. I am not able to seal my home and make it airtight so I have no chance of keeping the smoke out.
In addition to addressing the health issues associated with wood heaters, the Greens’ initiatives are intended to make environmental improvements. The methane and soot in wood smoke are an acute problem contributing to climate change. Firewood use also impacts on biodiversity and endangered woodlands, with only five per cent of firewood sold in the ACT coming from sustainable plantations.
One of the issues that is often not considered when it comes to firewood use is that a large amount of firewood comes from Australia’s woodlands. Woodlands are some of our most threatened ecological communities, particularly as most have already been extensively cleared for agriculture and have slow growth rates. In addition, removing deadwood is recognised as having serious ecological problems as it destroys essential habitats for a variety of native animals and damages the soil by removing nutrients that are important to its health and the ecosystem.
It is necessary to take action to address wood smoke pollution in the ACT because the current approach is inadequate. Currently, the ACT defers to national standards that govern the use of wood heaters. The ACT mandates that wood heaters for sale must be certified to comply with the national emissions standard, which specifies maximum allowable particle emissions of four grams per kilogram of wood burnt. There is no minimum national efficiency standard.
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