How Much Lasting Damage Does Wildfire Smoke Cause?

 


It's bad enough that wildfires are now erasing towns and scouring neighbourhoods across western Canada and the US, more attention is being focused on the smoke problem. 

Wildfire smoke is laden with a lot of nasty stuff including particulate matter, PM 2.5, that embeds itself in lung tissue and even enters the bloodstream.  Those exposed can develop serious respiratory problems but the question that needs answering is the cumulative nature of the problem.  Is there a looming public health crisis?  Could parts of the West become seasonally uninhabitable?

So far there have been no studies on human health consequences however, in California, there has been a study of rhesus monkeys exposed  to a number of wildfire episodes. And, yes, it really is damaging their respiratory systems.  So, are we next? Is the petro-state, Canada, worth the human suffering we may be inflicting on our fellow Canadians?

 

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