Children’s exposure to home wood-burning pollution can be as significant as exposure to traffic exhaust, according to new research conducted across six European towns and cities. Scientists measured air quality in schools, sports centres, and homes where children spend a large portion of their time to investigate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), a family of pollutants released during fuel combustion.
Health Risks and Urban Findings
Dr Barend van Drooge from Barcelona’s Institute for Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), who served as senior author of the study, stated that some of these compounds are linked to cancers following prolonged exposure, as recognized by the International Agency for Cancer Research, and noted evidence that they delay cognitive development. Measurements were taken in and around Athens, Barcelona, Colchester, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Lisbon. Van Drooge explained that urban areas utilizing wood-burning, such as Colchester and Athens, recorded the highest PAH levels, whereas Barcelona and Lisbon recorded the lowest levels where wood-burning is not practiced. Exposure levels in Colchester and Athens exceeded World Health Organization guidelines.
Maria Antonia Aretaki of IDAEA in Barcelona, the study’s first author, stated that understanding pollutants in children’s everyday environments is a vital step toward safeguarding their health, emphasizing that children are especially vulnerable to environmental pollutants and potential health impacts from childhood exposure. Sports centres registered the lowest pollutant concentrations, followed by schools, though some schools in Lisbon experienced impacts from nearby heavy traffic. While ventilation and indoor sources proved important, homes with the highest PAH levels were located in wood-burning areas, with many featuring open fireplaces and stoves.
Seasonal Variations and Wider Impact
Winter PAH concentrations exceeded summer levels significantly. Researchers categorized PAH by molecular weight, finding that high-molecular-weight PAH in Colchester homes during winter were more than ten times higher than in summer, while low-molecular-weight PAH were roughly three times greater. Van Drooge noted that while wood-burning is a recognized PAH emitter, its emergence as a major contributor to overall urban PAH presence was surprising, though none of the studied cities surpassed unacceptable limits for lifetime cancer risk.
The impacts of wood-burning within the UK are not exclusive to Colchester. University College London researchers analyzed energy performance certificates and found that Colchester ranked 120th out of 333 local councils for wood burner density per square kilometre, while Worthing, Norwich, and Reading each recorded roughly four times more. Additionally, a winter study involving 53 children from two primary schools in Anglesey (Ynys Môn) demonstrated that children residing in homes with wood burners faced exposure to over three times more particle pollution than peers in homes without wood burners, and that homes exhibited higher air pollution than schools.
In Greece, wood-burning surged during the financial crisis originating in 2008 as heating oil costs escalated, prompting many residents to adopt wood heating and contributing to increased particle pollution-related deaths in Athens, particularly among individuals over 70. In specific Greek towns, winter wood-burning generates PAH levels that are 100 times higher than summer levels.
