For unbiased information about tobacco smoke, people consult independent authorities, eg, NSW Health or the Australian Lung Foundation, not the cigarette industry.
The same applies for unbiased information on wood smoke. The Lung Foundation recommends alternative heating. NSW Health advises that, to reduce the chance of wood smoke affecting our health, people should not use a wood-burning heater.
The UN Environment program screened over 2000 measures to reduce climate change and improve health. One of the top 16 measures was to phase out log-burning heaters in developed countries.
The 50 authors of the UN report represent a general consensus on limiting the rise in global temperature to 2°C, as required by the Copenhagen Accord. Arctic ice is now at record lows. With global temperatures increasing faster than previously predicted, to avoid “climate tipping points”, we must tackle the “forgotten 50 per cent” of global warming from substances other than CO2 (igsd.org or woodsmoke.3sc.net/greenhouse) including wood heater emissions.
Bruce Whan and the wood heating industry selectively quote one paper, without even mentioning the scientific rebuttal published in the same issue. The rebuttal demonstrated that the criticism was completely unfounded by providing real-life information on the actual savings in costs and greenhouse gas emissions when nearly 2000 of Christchurch’s wood heaters were replaced with heat pumps.
Residents who wish to upgrade their heating should consider the advice of NSW Health, the Lung Foundation and the UN Environment Program, rather than the AHHA — an organisation that obviously aims to maintain the profits of the wood heating industry.
Dr Dorothy L Robinson
Armidale
