Clean Air Night continues to go from strength to strength increasing its reach each year. 75 local authorities took part in this year’s campaign by sharing how wood burning harms our health on their channels or through events and there was lots of media coverage which sparked lively conversations in the media, with coverage in The Times, The Express, LBC, Yahoo, the Daily Record, ITV, Greatest Hits Radio and more.
A range of political leaders also spoke out about wood burning on this year’s Clean Air Night, including Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Deputy Mayor Mete Coban, Fleur Anderson MP, Afzal Khan MP, Bell Ribiero-Addy MP, Satvir Kaur MP and the Welsh Government.
Primary school children in Camden even produced their own video to raise awareness of the harm to health that comes from using woodburning stoves.
The webinar for Clean Air Night was very well attended and featured some very informative presentations by Researchers, Professors and Health Professionals on the harm to health from wood burning.
Particularly memorable from the webinar was the presentation by Dr Mark Miller from Edinburgh who talked us through the serious effects on the blood and heart function that arise from just 3 hours exposure to partial smoke from a woodburning stove. The results below are from tests taken from volunteers who took part in a chamber study test where they sat in a large room and inhaled air that was mixed with filtered partial smoke from a woodburning stove.
Medical tests on the volunteers involved in the study showed that those who had been breathing in the air mixed with filtered partial woodsmoke had:
- An altered heart rhythm with a faster heartbeat now being present.
- More inflammation present in the blood.
- Blood tests that showed their blood was more likely to clot.
- Arteries that were not healthy anymore and were sluggish and less responsive
All the presentations at the webinar were informative and presented in a clear understandable manner with the message being clear that woodburning harms everyones health.
We look forward to more engagement with Clean Air Night from the Scottish Government, MSPs and local authorities in Scotland next year.