Air pollution

In February this year researchers from McGill University in Montreal published a paper in epidemiology that found that the risk of myocardial infarction for the elderly living in and around small cities is increased by air pollution caused by biomass burning from woodstoves.

Specifically it found that when pollution from woodstoves is at its highest, the risk of heart attacks among subjects of 65 years and older increased by 19 per cent.

This is of direct relevance to Levin because it is common in winter to have windless nights where the wood smoke pollution can be thick and there is a large proportion of residents who are older than 65.

I fear that Levin is only thought to pass ambient air quality standards because monitoring is not performed, and not because it is not polluted.

It would help if Horizons Regional Council started monitoring air quality in Levin and other currently unmonitored towns.

In other parts of the world serious discussion is now being had about banning wood burning in residential areas entirely, as so called solutions such as burning “clean and dry” wood, and replacing old stoves with new stoves are being proven to fail.

We owe it to all of our residents, and especially our elderly, that it is a discussion we should be having too. I encourage all readers to visit https://woodsmokepollution.org

MATTHEW THREDGOLD Levin