Asthma + Lung UK has warned new proposals for stricter limits on emissions from wood burners 'fall well short' of what is needed to protect the nation's lungs. Under new plans, new wood burners will carry health warning labels, while ministers also proposed cutting the limit on smoke emitted from wood burners by 80%.
Health charities and clean air campaigners have warned the plans - currently under consultation - ignore the pollution from existing stoves which is one of the UK’s biggest sources of air pollution. Domestic burning currently accounts for 20% of PM2.5 pollution - a fine particulate pollutant linked to asthma, lung disease and heart conditions. This is nearly as much as all of road transport.
Asthma + Lung UK has called on people living with lung conditions to respond to the consultation - and for the government to actively engage with communities most impacted by pollution. The consultation will run until 19 March.
Jonathan Blades, Head of Policy at Asthma + Lung UK, said: “The public consultation on domestic wood burning is a welcome acknowledgement of the harm caused by domestic burning, but the policy measures proposed fall well short of what is needed to protect the public from dangerously high levels of emissions.
“Air pollution is first and foremost a health issue. It is linked to up to 43,000 premature deaths every year in the UK [1] and domestic burning is the only source of harmful fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 that has risen since 2003[2]. Domestic burning now accounts for nearly as much of these harmful particulates as road transport.[3]
“These tiny PM2.5 particles, invisible to the naked eye, are small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and reach the bloodstream where they can cause illnesses such as asthma, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
“If this government is serious about protecting public health, reducing the amount of PM2.5 we breathe must be a priority, and the government should be consulting on bold, ambitious and supportive policy measures to bring down levels from domestic burning.
“Despite this, we would urge people with lung conditions to respond to this consultation and ensure their views are heard. Without this, and active engagement from the government, today’s consultation risks becoming another missed opportunity to free communities from the suffocating grip of air pollution.”
References
[1] How much of a problem is air pollution in the UK?
[2] Emissions of PM2.5 by source | Institute for Fiscal Studies