From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 2 July

Has the time arrived for household wood heaters to be banned? Research shows they are the largest source of air pollution in many Australian cities and towns.

WE have, since the Titan, Prometheus, stole a spark of fire from the Greek God, Zeus, on Mount Olympus and gifted it to the mortals, been fascinated by its power and beauty. There is nothing more welcoming than a roaring, open fire, silently pouring smoke into the atmosphere.

The winter months in Ballarat can prove nightmarish for those who are susceptible to air pollution, particularly as a consequence of wood and fossil fuel household fires and heaters. The air quality in tracts along Barkly Street, Golden Point, is, to say the least, problematic for asthmatics, children, and older adults.

Recently, there was such a trail of white smoke pouring from a rooftop chimney, and blowing directly into neighbouring house, I wondered if we had a new pope!

Intriguingly, Asthma Australia’s evidence suggests most Australians would support regulations to phase-out woodfire heaters for healthier alternatives. The chemical components of wood and cigarette smoke are similar, and many elements of both are carcinogenic. Environmental Protection Authority researchers estimate the lifetime cancer risk from wood smoke to be 12 times greater than that from a similar amount of cigarette smoke.

An Alfred Hospital thoracic surgeon told my late mother she had the lungs of a smoker of ‘60 cigarettes a day’. The irreparable damage was the consequence of passive smoking (all three of her husbands smoked), and years of cooking with a wood fire – sometimes out in the open.

Support for regulating wood heaters was highest with asthma sufferers: 84 per cent supported regulation of woodfire heaters in urban built-up areas; 71 per cent would support a scheme to phase them out completely; and 65 per cent agreed they should be banned.

Around 10 per cent of Australian households – roughly 900,000 homes – use wood as a main source of heating, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Only 4.4 per cent of Sydneysiders burn wood to warm their homes, yet it generates a quarter of winter air pollution. Similarly, in Victoria, woodsmoke on winter days is responsible for most breaches of air quality standards.

Annual sales of woodfire heaters in Australia is somewhere between 40,000-50,000 units. The banning of wood stoves would be inequitable. Many cannot afford other sources of heating; also, a ban would result in many employed in the woodfire, heater industry losing their jobs. However, introducing sensible, economic incentives could help. A workable and achievable methodology in Victoria is for a wood stove buyback, or subsidy scheme, an idea supported by the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association.

Woodfires come at a serious health cost. The flickering flames which leap and dance in time to the seductive background music, and which have been central to many a romantic encounter, do, in reality, mask a dark, sinister underbelly. ‘All that glistens is not gold!’

It is a sobering thought: using a woodfired heater is tantamount to have a truck idling in your living room (albeit with the bulk of the emissions escaping via the chimney).

As environmental problems increase exponentially, the time has come for everyone to seek more effective habits to reduce our carbon imprint. Whether or not you believe in climate change is irrelevant. The planet is fragile and buckling. Medically, we know that pouring chemical laden smoke into the atmosphere, particularly during the winter months when cloud-cover inversion exacerbates the situation, creates preventable life-threatening situations.

Always, we must consider the greater good!

Roland can be contacted via [email protected].