Raging wildfires filling the skies with smoke every summer are becoming the new normal and that is bad news for our health.
How wildfire smoke can harm almost every part of your body: “It accelerates the development of diseases”
Large swaths of the United States are dealing with smoke in the air caused by thousands of wildfires burning in Canada and the western United States. The annual summer smoke out is becoming the new normal as rising temperatures mixed with drier conditions occur on a more regular basis.
The wildfires are not just damaging our wilderness areas and anything else in their path, exposure to wildfire smoke is also a serious health risk.
“Your whole body is affected. Wildfire smoke causes oxidative stress to your system and exacerbates or accelerates the development of diseases,” Yang Liu, Professor of Environmental Health at Emory University in Atlanta told Deutsche Welle (DW).
Earlier this year, he and a team of researchers published a study in the European Heart Journal which found that repeated exposure to even moderate amounts of wildfire smoke increases the risk of stroke in older adults.
Studies have shown that wildfire smoke is causing thousands of excess deaths each year. One from last year found that it was responsible for on average roughly 40,000 excess deaths in the U.S. each year between 2011 and 2020.
“The numbers are quite striking,” Minghao Qiu, a climate and public health scientist at Stony Brook University and the lead author of the study, told NPR. The researchers’ analysis found that the number could grow to over 71,000 by 2050, when smoke levels from wildfires could double or triple the concentration of current averages across the nation.
Wildfire smoke: a toxic cocktail
“Wildfire smoke is a mixture of hazardous air pollutants, such PM2.5, NO2, ozone, aromatic hydrocarbons, or lead,” says the World Health Organization (WHO). The PM2.5 is of particular concern because of its well-documented health effects.
Furthermore, particle matter of this size and smaller can penetrate deep into the lungs and get directly into the bloodstream. From there it can get to any organ in your body, including your brain.
DW notes this fine particle soot can “act like sponges, binding toxic metals and organic compounds to them.” One study the newspaper cited found cadmium and mercury along with carcinogenic compounds and PFAS, also known as forever chemicals in samples from healthy fire fighters that had recently been exposed to wildfire smoke.
Additionally, wildfire smoke becomes more dangerous the longer it is in the air, and it can travel incredibly long distances. PM2.5 pollution associated with smoke from the Canadian wildfires in 2023 reached as far away as Europe and Asia.
Health risks of wildfire smoke
Due to its link to cancers, everyone should avoid long-term or repeated exposure to wildfire smoke. But some individuals are more at risk for severe health consequences even from moderate exposure.
IQAir, says that anyone with heart disease or respiratory disease are more susceptible to health risks from wildfire smoke.
Also, young children, even if they don’t have any pre-existing conditions, are considered more vulnerable because their lungs are still developing. Older adults are at-risk as they tend to already have pre-existing heart and respiratory conditions.
Pregnant women and their unborn children should avoid exposure to wildfire smoke. It can lead to premature births and low birth weight.
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