Clean Air v Deliberate Forestry Smoke.

Clive Stott
Properly conducted scientific studies from around the world are linking many common and debilitating diseases with fine particle pollution from smog and smoke. This is really frightening when Tasmanians are forced to breathe these toxins every year because forestry wants to burn their rubbish. Cancer and asthma figures in our community are the highest and after reading these findings the connection cannot be ignored.
There has been a knee jerk reaction by Forestry, Irene Glover( examiner 10/3/2009) and other pyromaniacs since Black Saturday saying there is a need to burn. What about when Ken Burns of the Tas Fire Service (examiner.13/11/2008) said brigades had responded to several blazes where fuel reduction burns had escaped and would take several days to control?

We should support our fire officers with clean air technologies rather than complain about them exercising their professional judgment to extinguish fires.

Clean air is vitally important if we are to live a long and healthy life. It is especially important for children to breathe clean air as they exercise more and the particles lodge deeply in their lungs for life. The same applies to adults that do strenuous exercise outside; our fittest are at greatest risk! Scary isn’t it?

We now know that particle pollution is linked not only to cancer and asthma, but to heart attacks, some forms of diabetes, COPD, blood clots and DVT, low birth weights, fetal and infant deaths, and pre term deliveries. The list is growing at an alarming rate.

I just wonder how much money the forestry industries contributed towards this research that links, without doubt, their smoke and our poor health?