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Satelite Images - NOAA Site
Valuable asthma and particulate information can be found on The Health Effect Institute's website.

Asthma studies and statistic can be found here:www.cdc.gov/epo

Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental toxins. Pound for pound of body weight, children drink more water, eat more food, and breathe more air than do adults.
Center for Children's Health and the Environment
Academic research and policy center to examine the links between exposure to toxic pollutants and childhood illness.

View a breakdown of the Public Health Price Tag for 1988

The latest study by the American Heart Association which shows an increase in heart attacks with only an exposure of 1 hour to only 25 mg/l of PM 2.5, or an exposure of 24 hours of only 20 mg/l. This is a serious finding, since the DEQ isnow proposing a limit of 80 mg/l before they will stop burning.
 
Smoke and Health
The health debate began when bluegrass growers first started torching their fields over 35 ears ago. Asthmatics and others with respiratory problems complained that the smoke made them sick. Growers insisted that their smoke was nothing more than "steam" and harmless, organic particles".
Since 1996, scientific studies and testimony from medical professionals have resolved the debate. Th Spokane Medical Society, the Washington Thoracic Society, the Idaho Medical Association, the American Lung Association, the Washington State Department of Health, and 320 individual physicians have identified agricultural smoke as a health hazard.
In may 1998, the Department of Ecology banned grass burning in Washington state to protect public health. Unfortunately, wheat growers have begun to burn their fields and burning has skyrocketed, more than off-setting the gains achieved by the blue grass ban. Smoke continues to cause illness and suffering throughout the region.


Facts About Particulate Air Pollution and Health.*

  • Agricultural burning produces smoke that contains pollutants such as particulars, volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxides.
  • Particulate mater (PM) is harmful because it blocks the alveoli, the region where gaseous exchange takes place, resulting in decreased lung volume. Particles can also cause lung inflammation, making breathing difficult.
  • Airborne particles larger than 10 microns (PM10) in diameter are usually filtered by the nasal passage, but 90% of particles in smoke are 2.5 microns or smaller (PM2.5). This means that they are airborne longer and penetrate deeper into the alveolar cells of the lung.
  • In addition, incomplete combustion products such as cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) adhere to particles and travel deep into the lungs where they become lodged.
  • Organic compounds, such as phenols and PAHs, are lung irritants that cause coughing and wheezing.
  • Health effects of agricultural field burning include:
    Irritated eyes, nose, mouth
    Increased cough, wheezing
    Increased respiratory illness
    Decreased lung function
    Increased respiratory hospital admission, emergency room visits, and mortality rates
    Increased use of medication
    Possible development of lung disease
  • Although everyone is affected by these polluting by-products of agricultural burning, those most at risk are the elderly, children, people with asthma and people with chronic heart or lung disease. Children are at risk because their airways are smaller and more susceptible to air pollutants. also children have less developed immune systems and are less resistant to air pollutants.
  • Smoke from open field burning remains suspended in the air and spreads quickly over a large geographical area. The only effective method of managing smoke is by reducing or removing the source.
  • Staying indoors is not protective as smoke can easily penetrate buildings.

    For years, people tried in vain to convince lawmakers and regulatory agencies that agricultural smoke was making them sick. Now science and medical professionals have confirmed it. In the words of the Coeur d'Alene lung specialist, Dr. David York, "we see sicker people with more serious problems (during grass burning season) - it's undeniable. The industry's attempt to pooh-pooh this i like tobacco companies trying to deny their impact on health." (Spokesman Review, March 23, 1996)

    * Source: American Lung Association of Washington
    • contact via email: Save Our Summers
    or: P.O. Box 30174, Spokane, WA 99223-3002
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