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Have they examined if it is the wood itself; or the (possible - no idea if true) accumulations of microplastics and other chemicals into the wood? I would not

Have they examined if it is the wood itself; or the (possible - no idea if true) accumulations of microplastics and other chemicals into the wood? I would not be terribly shocked if we found out that wood is more dangerous to burn today than it used to be. Edit: For the downvoters who think it’s unlikely, consider that microplastic and PFAS in rainwater has passed safe levels. What do trees grow from? https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a40859859/rainwater-not-safe-to-drink/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a40859859/rainwater...

zorrotorro 3y ago
Legit interesting question.
bbor 3y ago
Definitely possible IMO! Seems like it would be surprising tho - consider the disparities in volume. I think the boring answer is that breathing smoke is dangerous, despite the occult and ambience benefits of a hearth ;( it forms minute bits of plastic that are tinier than 5 millimeters long. Their size means they end up everywhere, even in our blood, where they range in size between 700 nanometers and 5,000 nanometers.
zdragnar 3y ago
Wood is already known to be cancer causing (via inhaled sawdust). Smoke is not going to be any better, and the quantity of microplastics trees available won't really move the needle on that.
- gjsman-1000 3y ago
  Can you give me some studies on that, assuming that the sawdust is from straight wood and not any form of wood beam which contains glues and treatments?
  - mrangle 3y ago
    Look up any of the mountain of studies that connects air particulate, in general, to cancer. If you want to argue variables for air particulate's relationship to lung cancer, then more power to you.
  - zdragnar 3y ago
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8266936/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8266936/ Money quote from the abstract: "The strongest association of exposure to wood dust and development of nasal cancer is observed in those occupations where workers are exposed to hard wood dust and chemical additives are not used." Note that the strongest association is when chemicals are NOT used - I suspect this might be more due to how people work the wood (less likely to sand particles board, more likely to wear protective gear) than the nature of the chemicals themselves. It does go on to say that various respiratory cancers are from both untreated and treated wood sawdust, but wood alone is well known to cause cancer.

zorrotorro 3y ago

Legit interesting question.

bbor 3y ago

Definitely possible IMO! Seems like it would be surprising tho - consider the disparities in volume. I think the boring answer is that breathing smoke is dangerous, despite the occult and ambience benefits of a hearth ;( it forms minute bits of plastic that are tinier than 5 millimeters long. Their size means they end up everywhere, even in our blood, where they range in size between 700 nanometers and 5,000 nanometers.

zdragnar 3y ago

Wood is already known to be cancer causing (via inhaled sawdust). Smoke is not going to be any better, and the quantity of microplastics trees available won't really move the needle on that.

gjsman-1000 3y ago
Can you give me some studies on that, assuming that the sawdust is from straight wood and not any form of wood beam which contains glues and treatments?
- mrangle 3y ago
  Look up any of the mountain of studies that connects air particulate, in general, to cancer. If you want to argue variables for air particulate's relationship to lung cancer, then more power to you.
- zdragnar 3y ago
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8266936/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8266936/ Money quote from the abstract: "The strongest association of exposure to wood dust and development of nasal cancer is observed in those occupations where workers are exposed to hard wood dust and chemical additives are not used." Note that the strongest association is when chemicals are NOT used - I suspect this might be more due to how people work the wood (less likely to sand particles board, more likely to wear protective gear) than the nature of the chemicals themselves. It does go on to say that various respiratory cancers are from both untreated and treated wood sawdust, but wood alone is well known to cause cancer.