Firewood: Health Hazards

(asked on 12th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of domestic wood burning on public health.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 18th December 2023

Air pollution has been highlighted as the largest environmental risk to public health in the United Kingdom. Burning combustion of wood accounted for 17% of fine particulate matter emissions in 2020.

The UK Health Security Agency has, as part of the Cleaner Air Programme, undertaken a systematic review of the epidemiological studies on the association between outdoor and indoor solid fuel exposure, including biomass and coal and respiratory diseases in children and adults. The evidence suggests that burning solid fuels such as coal and wood indoors could contribute to the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer in adults, but further work is needed to confirm this. There is less evidence for effects in children. Introducing measures to reduce solid fuel burning can improve air quality, leading to some reductions of adverse respiratory effects.

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