FIRE RING REMOVAL Barbara Peters, CdM Resident

ASTHMA  9.1% of children and 7.7% of adults in California have active asthma as of  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