Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the quantum of premature death in the UK caused by the emission of wood smoke; and whether he plans to publish that information.

Figures for premature death in the United Kingdom caused by the emission of wood smoke are not calculated and the Department has no plans to do so.

The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) has considered the wider issue of the potency of particulate matter from different sources in causing adverse effects on health. This work included consideration of evidence on biomass combustion. COMEAP’s current view (as published in reports in 2009 and 2010) is that particulate matter measured as PM_2.5 is the most appropriate measure of air pollution for estimating the impact on mortality of long-term exposure to air pollution in the UK. COMEAP believes that the available evidence does not make it possible to distinguish with confidence between the effects of the different components of the ambient air pollution mixture, nor of different sources.

COMEAP’s reports are available at:

www.comeap.org.uk/documents/reports

Wood smoke is a small contributor to the overall level of PM_2.5, which is mainly related to traffic and industry emissions.