They are a modern and effective way to keep your home warm and cozy during the winter months.
But wood stoves could increase the risk of Britain’s deadliest cancer, research has shown.
Home heating devices, which have become a popular item in middle-class homes, have been shown to increase the risk of lung cancer.
They are also said to be one of the main drivers of harmful air pollutants in UK cities.
It comes as new research today found that wood burning stoves are now the biggest source of toxic PM2.5 particles in the UK.
The “domestic burning of wood and other fuels” accounted for almost a third of all PM2.5 emissions in 2022, the report found.
These particles are too small to be filtered by the nose and lungs, which can deal with larger particles, such as pollen.
Studies have long suggested that PM2.5 particles can enter the bloodstream, where they cause serious diseases such as heart disease and lung cancer.
Home heating devices, which have become a popular item in middle-class homes, are said to be one of the main drivers of harmful air pollutants in UK cities.
The only source of PM2.5 emissions that has increased since 2003 is domestic combustion, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report.
One meta-analysis In a study that included 17 separate studies, an increase in PM2.5 exposure was found to increase the risk of lung cancer by eight percent and that of dying from the disease by 11 percent.
Chinese researchers also found that lung cancer mortality associated with PM2.5 was highest in North America, where the risk increased by 15 percent.
Asia and Europe followed with an increase of 12 and 5 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, the incidence of lung cancer associated with PM2.5 was highest in Asia, with an elevated risk of nine percent.
North America and Europe followed with increases of six and three percent respectively.
Last year, one united states study Using a wood stove or fireplace indoors was also found to increase women’s risk of developing lung cancer by 43 percent compared to those who don’t.
The researchers, who tracked more than 50,000 Americans, also found that people who used their wood stove more than 30 days a year saw their risk of lung cancer increase by 68 percent.
Dr. Suril Mehta, co-author of the study and scientist at the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said: “Our study provides evidence that even occasional burning of wood indoors using stoves and fireplaces can contribute to the lung cancer in populations where indoor wood burning is not the predominant fuel source for cooking or heating the interior of the home.’
lung cancer It hits around 50,000 people in the UK and 230,000 in the US each year.
It is the biggest cancer killer in the world. It is very difficult to diagnose and often appears later when it is more difficult to treat.
Figures show it kills four out of every five patients in five years. Less than 10 percent of people survive the disease for a decade or more.
Despite progress, a gender disparity is emerging: Women ages 35 to 54 are diagnosed with lung cancer at higher rates than men in that same age group.
Toxins generated by burning wood have long been linked to a variety of lung and heart problems, including asthma and delayed lung development in children.
Domestic combustion, which includes burning wood, also contributed to a third of the UK’s total PM2.5 emissions in 2021 – airborne particles invisible to the human eye that can enter the blood and penetrate deep into the lungs. .
It comes as new research today warned that wood burning stoves are now the biggest source of PM2.5 in the UK.
The report, from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, also found that three-quarters of PM2.5 emissions from domestic combustion came from burning wood in 2022.
Lung cancer symptoms are often not noticed until the cancer has spread through the lungs to other parts of the body.
It said: ‘The top three sources of primary PM2.5 in the UK are the domestic burning of wood and other fuels (29 per cent of total PM2.5 emissions in 2022), road transport (17.9 per percent of total PM2.5 emissions). in 2022), and industrial processes and product use (16.5 percent of total PM2.5 emissions in 2022), such as construction and steel manufacturing.
‘The only source of PM2.5 emissions that has increased over the period is domestic combustion.
“Three-quarters of PM2.5 emissions from domestic combustion came from burning wood in 2022.”
Only stoves with the official ‘Ecodesign’ brand are allowed to be sold in the UK and any firewood on sale must be certified ‘ready to burn’.
In August, a letter signed by more than 100 doctors warned that toxins generated by burning wood are an “invisible killer.”
In its position statement, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) urged the Government to “phase out domestic firewood burning in urban areas, help rural residents move away from firewood as a primary source of heating, and support those suffering from energy poverty with fuel cost assistance.”
He also said that he wanted that Ella’s law be introduced and that the Government commit to World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines.
Ella’s Law is named after Ella Roberta Adoo Kissi Debrah, who died in 2013 aged nine after suffering a fatal asthma attack.
Nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah died in 2013, after three years of seizures and 27 hospital visits for treatment for breathing problems.
A 2021 coroner’s report found that air pollution contributed to his death. He was the first person in England for whom a coroner named air pollution as the cause of death.
She lived just 80 feet from a notorious pollution “hotspot” on the busy south circular road in Lewisham, south-east London, one of the capital’s busiest roads.
Between 2010 and 2013 he suffered numerous seizures and made almost 30 hospital visits.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has said he will meet the targets of the Environment Act, which includes a target to curb PM2.5 pollution by 2040.
The target requires a maximum annual average concentration of no more than ten micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter by then.
This follows the expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) last year to cover all London boroughs in a bid to further reduce pollution levels.