Scientists to study effects of all that smoke
At conference, researchers to discuss harms of exposure to fires' byproduct
Missoulian
Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2007
By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian
Most everyone knows that long exposure to smoke - be it from cigarettes or wildfires - makes you feel bad. There's the wheezing, the headaches, the coughing and watery eyes. Although these responses are observable and tangible, quantifying and measuring the effect that smoke and its carcinogenic companion - particulate matter - has on human health is a far more complex matter. You need science to understand that, and there's not a lot of science out there to explain why we have these responses to smoke - or what they mean to our health. Leading experts on the chemistry of biomass smoke hope to change that while gathered at the University of Montana for a two-day conference this week.
The goal of the federally funded international event is to identify and talk about research projects under way. Talk is dedicated to what science knows now about smoke exposure, spark new collaborations among scientists, and identify research gaps and recommend future research directions. Those are the marching orders from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is funding the conference. "We are trying to figure out the state of our science and the challenges we have," said Tony Ward, a researcher in UM's Center for Environmental Health Sciences, which is hosting the conference.
Why is the topic so important? Because biofuels are relatively inexpensive and unregulated, and the resulting smoke exposures tend to have the greatest impact on the majority of the world's people - those who live at lower socioeconomic levels and those who live in developing countries, said Andrij Holian, director of the UM research center. What is "biomass smoke"? It's a cryptic phrase that describes smoke resulting from all sources that don't come from burning fossil fuels, Holian said. Here in the Northwest, it is often associated with wildfires, but in Third World countries, biomass smoke comes from burning dung heaps and from corn cobs used as "fire logs." Because biomass smoke is produced by eclectic, wide-ranging sources, the science connected to it is equally diverse.
Adding to the scientific challenge, Ward said, is that each fuel source burns differently, spitting out different particulate matter and chemical compositions. Smoke is also a fluid and inconsistent "mass," or event, making it difficult for researchers to nail down how much smoke a person or entire community is exposed to over time. "Fresh" smoke has different qualities and particulate matter than "old" smoke, for instance. Indoor smoke exposure is different than outdoor exposure. But if you spend five hours a day cooking on an open stove in a small Mexican village, as most of the village women do, one researcher showed the smoke exposure is different for the cooks than it is for the children, who are in and out of the house all day.
Among the other research topics presented on Tuesday, the first day of the conference, were "Epidemiological Evidence of Particulate Matter-related Health Effects," "Biomass Smoke Experimental Studies in Humans" and "Laboratory Studies of Inhaled Wood Smoke." "We know that when there is an increase in smoke there are more visits to emergency rooms, and an increase in respiratory-related problems," Ward said. "We don't know what the long-term or even the short-term effects are, or how the smoke affects us." That UM has asked to host the conference and lead the conversation about such important questions is a huge honor, Ward said. "UM is hosting a world-class conference funded by a federal agency, and that's a big deal," he said. "I think it reflects the fact we are doing some really cool research here at the Center for Environmental Health Sciences, and being asked to host this conference is recognition for our work."