Dr Rebecca Booth, an associate principal scientist who has spent over 20-years developing lung cancer treatments tells Air Quality News why we need transparency when it comes to pollution from wood burning stoves.

Over the last decade, wood stoves have become very popular in the UK. The smell of wood smoke is commonplace in cities, towns and rural areas, even on cooler summer days.

Domestic wood burning creates large quantities of particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution in close proximity to where people spend a significant proportion of their time.

However, it’s still not common knowledge that wood smoke – whether visible or invisible – is toxic. There is now a wealth of scientific data which links wood-burning emissions to a wide range of diseases including cancers, impaired cognition, stroke, heart disease, asthma, COPD, and reduced lung and brain function in children.

Raising awareness of the sources and effects of air pollution, and advising the public on how they can help reduce air pollution, is an important part of improving public health in the UK.

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