FIRE RING REMOVAL

Barbara Peters, CdM Resident

ASTHMA

9.1% of children and 7.7% of adults in California have active asthma as of 2007.

In Orange County alone, about 312,000 children and adults have been diagnosed with asthma.

Exposure to wood smoke is a health risk to these people.

“Fine particles are a threat to people with lung disease and asthma. For those people, short periods of smoke inhalation (30-90 minutes) can precipitate acute attacks.” David Robert Brown, Sc.D., Public Health Toxicologist and Doctor of Science, Harvard

LETTERS FROM EXPERTS

“It is unquestionable that exposure to wood smoke can cause effects ranging from irritation, to serious lung infections, asthma, and other chronic lung disease.” Dr. Michael Lipsett, California Department of Public Health

“There is no low threshold to the health effects (including mortality).” Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson, Stanford University

“With the scientific evidence linking wood smoke to lung disease, heart disease, and premature death, no one should be involuntarily exposed.” Bonnie Holmes-Gen, American Lung Association in

California

PREGNANCY

Tyler Prize 2012 Recent studies at UC Berkeley link wood smoke to

reduced cognitive abilities in children exposed in utero to smoke from open fires.

Many children fall behind in cognitive development because of their exposure to wood smoke, Professor Kirk Smith’s work shows.

The prestigious Tyler Prize has been awarded since 1973 to researchers who “confer great benefit upon humankind through environmental achievement”.

Pregnancy Rates The National Center for Health Statistics puts

pregnancy rates for 2008 at 68.1 per 1,000 women of childbearing age.

LETTERS FROM EXPERTS

“It is unquestionable that exposure to wood smoke can cause effects ranging from irritation, to serious lung infections, asthma, and other chronic lung disease.” Dr. Michael Lipsett, California Department of Public Health

“There is no low threshold to the health effects (including mortality).” Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson, Stanford University

“With the scientific evidence linking wood smoke to lung disease, heart disease, and premature death, no one should be involuntarily exposed.” Bonnie Holmes-Gen, American Lung Association in

California

Thank you