Asthma Australia backs push to ban wood heaters in ACT

A sufferer of severe allergic eosinophilic asthma, an attack leaves Ms Ross feeling like she's sucking air through a straw.

"Most people don't think about breathing day to day because it's just something you do subconsciously," she said.

"Until you can't do it - then it's all you can think about - everything else in your life just melts away."

Asthma Australia has come out in support of recommendations by the ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment to ban wood heaters in the ACT, following her office's investigation into the health and environmental impacts of smoke.

The peak health body is pushing for a phase-out of wood heaters through a replacement scheme within a set timeframe and a ban on new heaters. The recommendation is for a transition similar to the move from gas to electric appliances.

Asthma Australia also supports ACT commissioner Sophie Lewis' recommendation to mandate the removal of wood heaters before a property is sold and the introduction of a wood heater register.

Ms Ross said she moved to Banks several years ago because it was one of the few places in the ACT that felt affordable to purchase a house.

She said at their location, about mid-level in the Tuggeranong Valley, smoke settles in the streets.

"There's almost like a permanent haze in winter with the smoke from the heaters," Ms Ross said.

"The way everyone lived in lockdown is how I live every day. I can't afford to go out and risk having an attack."

She said the argument that banning wood heaters was an impediment on individual rights was selfish.

"It's the health of everybody," she said.

"I'm more like the canary in the coal mine - I feel it because I'm sensitive to it - but the fact is it's damaging other people, too."

Air quality in the ACT is measured in Tuggeranong and Belconnen and Civic, though the city monitoring station does not meet national standards.

The ACT commissioner's investigation found the limited number of compliant monitoring stations meant it was impossible to provide an accurate measure of locations with levels of pollution exceeding national standards.

Dr Lewis' report includes the recommendation additional monitoring stations be established, a measure supported by Sotirus Vardoulakis, an Australian National University professor who has advised governments on the impacts of air pollution and climate change on human health.

The wood heaters investigation reports the monitoring station at Tuggeranong recorded levels of pollution exceeding national air-quality standards from heater smoke 24 times in three years.

Professor Vardoulakis said the excess levels recorded were only an indication and there could be many more instances of too-high levels for residence in streets affected by wood heater smoke in winter.

"We're increasingly aware that there is no safe levels for exposure to air pollution," he said.

"It is a real issue."

The federal government's environment directorate recommends, where possible, choosing alternatives to wood heaters to heat homes.

"Woodsmoke contains a range of pollutants that are harmful to human health, such as particulates, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons," it advises.

"Some pollutants from wood heater smoke, such as particulates and formaldehyde, are carcinogenic.

"Pregnant women, children, older people, and people with respiratory illness are especially vulnerable to the health impacts of woodsmoke."

Prof Vardoulakis said fine particles in smoke can penetrate deeply into the respiratory system and can translocate to the bloodstream where they circulate the body and cause inflammation.

"There is strong evidence that inhalation of smoke or fine particles has an impact on respiratory and cardiovascular health," he said.

"And there is emerging evidence also that fine particles and pollution from combustion sources can have an impact on cognitive function, brain health and depression."

Prof Vardoulakis said it was plausible to compare inhaling wood heater smoke to smoking cigarettes.

"There are hundreds of chemicals in smoke from wood burning which are similar to some of the constituents of tobacco smoke," he said.

More than 1250 wood heaters were removed from ACT homes between 2004 and July, 2022, as part of the ACT government financial rebate program, the commissioner reported.

"It is unclear how many wood heaters have been installed during this period. Informal reports suggest that sales and installations of new wood heaters have increased in the most recent years, possible due to increased rates of working from home due to COVID-19 and increased gas and electricity costs," the report says.

Prof Vardoulakis said whether having a wood heater inside the home impacted health was dependent on the type of heater, what wood was used and how well they were maintained.

"Wood heaters, obviously, can leak and can produce particles and smoke which can have an impact on indoor air quality," he said.

Prof Vardoulakis said the ACT usually had good air quality, however, there were pockets of persistent air pollution due to wood heaters.

"There is certainly a health case and environmental case for phasing out wood heaters," he said.

"There is a realisations that solar energy reverse cycle air conditioning can be a more affordable and cleaner, healthier solutions for households - so this is the direction we should be moving to.

"Of course, phasing out wood heaters and phasing out gas will help us clean the air and also reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from ACT.

"There will be multiple benefits for health, for climate change mitigation and for health equity as well."

Asthma Australia asked 25,000 people for their views on wood heaters back in 2020. They found 77 per cent of the population surveyed agreed wood heaters should not be allowed in urban or built-up areas and more than half wanted them phased out.

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Michele Goldman, Asthma Australia chief executive officer, has urged the ACT government to set an example and become the first jurisdiction in Australia to ban wood heaters.

Ms Goldman said people with asthma across Australia are in vulnerable situations every day in colder months when neighbour's wood heater smoke wafts into their homes.

"It's very difficult to be friendly with your neighbours when their heater is making you sick," she said.

Ms Goldman said the investigation undertaken in the ACT reaffirmed the need to phase out wood heaters.

"Asthma is a life-threatening condition," she said.

"Where else can people go if they are not safe at home?"

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