Conference Goals

Biomass from a variety of sources is used for heating and cooking, burned for land use, and serves as fuel for wildfires. In each case, smoke from biomass combustion produces significant levels of criteria pollutants, including ambient particulate matter and a wide variety of volatile organic pollutants. In addition, these pollutants are produced at very high levels in indoor environments, and are consequently unregulated. Since biofuels are relatively inexpensive, resulting smoke exposures tend to have the greatest impacts on individuals at lower socioeconomic levels and in developing countries.

The University of Montana/CDC conference will bring together experts in the chemistry of biomass smoke, field exposure studies, human and animal studies, biomarkers, as well as clinical and basic research investigators to help define our current knowledge in understanding the health effects resulting from smoke exposure and the potential public health implications of those exposures. In addition, the conference will have working sessions in order to use the current information to provide recommendations and prioritization on research gaps and future research directions.