There is also a myth that burning wood is a cheap, renewable source of energy. People have become resigned to living with this smoke with little understanding of the health or other consequences, but the consequences are short term irritation in healthy persons to severe long trending illness, disability and premature, sudden death. That is why I decided to measure these tiny asbestos sized particles from combustion in neighborhood air. The Burning Issues library has over 400 recent scientific papers in unanimous agreement linking woodsmoke particles to sudden death and long trending disease. In addition to the Fact Sheet included with this article we have established a website.
Organic gardeners use wood ash to put potassium into their soil.
The heavy metals from woodsmoke and ash are then tracked into their homes increasing the toxicity of their household dust, in addition to the smoke exposure they are already receiving. A safer alternative would be to substitute a product called greensand and composted materials. The United States and the rest of the world face decreasing forests, and forest and lake death due to acid rain, and rampant logging. Woodsmoke acids remain airborne until they are washed out in the rain. In some areas of the United States the wood ash is radio active.