The smoke could be killing your children
and grandparents!
In the early 1950's, everyone thought that the
nuclear bomb tests in Nevada were a good idea
until people begin dying from radiation
poisoning. Today, we face a similar crisis. The
U.S. Forest Service has convinced some people
that prescribed burns and managed wildfires are
good methods of maintaining forest health when they
are actually two of the
deadliest acts known to mankind.
Health Risks of Prescribed
Burns
The smoke emitted from prescribed burns and
managed wildfires is unfiltered
wood smoke that is extremely dangerous
tounborn fetuses, infant children and elderly people.
It even affects normal healthy people without
warning. Wood smoke pollution is 12 times more
carcinogenic than cigarette smoke, attacks the
body cells up to 40 times longer, and kills at
least 40,000 adults and children every year. It
contains a toxic soup of more than 4,000
chemical compounds of harmful gases and particle matter that go deep in the lungs and
kill people, 69 of which are known human
carcinogens, including arsenic, particulate
matter, ozone, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide,
hydrocarbons, dioxin and various irritant gas
such as nitrogen oxides that scar the lungs. There is no escape
from the effects of prescribed burn smoke
because the tiny particles
and gases seep inside of homes reaching up to
70 percent of the outside pollution level.
Warnings to stay inside on high pollution days
are misleading and false. No one can escape the
bad effects of prescribed burns.
Exposure to prescribed burn smoke also increase
children’s risk of lower respiratory infections
such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and has been
linked to psychological disorders and toxic
damage to the nervous system and the brain in
developing fetuses and young children. Unborn fetuses and infant children are 10 times more vulnerable
to PAH damage than adults. The dagger shaped smoke particles are so
tiny that they go deep into the child's lungs
causing structural damage and chemical changes
to the lung tissue. While some of the particles lodge
deep in the child's lungs causing bronchitis,
asthma, and pneumonia, others pass
through the lungs into the blood stream entering
the child's systemic circulation causing organ
failure
and premature death. Studies show that
prescribed burn smoke exposure
can prevent the proper development of an
unborn fetus, prevent the proper
development of internal organs in infant
children,depress the immune system, damage the
nervous system, damage the brain, damage the
layer of cells in the child's lungs that protect
and cleanse the airways, and cause unexpected infant
mortality.
For vulnerable populations, such as
elderly people, people with asthma, chronic
respiratory disease and those with high blood
pressure and
cardiovascular disease, prescribed burn smoke
exposure is
particularly harmful, even short exposures can
prove fatal. The American Lung
Association recently published an annotated
bibliography of recent studies of the health
effects of air pollution linking wood smoke and
air pollution with lung cancer, breast cancer, heart attacks,
strokes, high blood pressure, congenital heart
defects, asthma, and brain damage. They identify
the elderly, diabetics, asthma patients, those with
congestive heart failure being at increased risk.
Even normal healthy people are at risk. EPA
studies show that exposure to prescribed burn smoke
can cause cancer, strokes, and a variety of
serious illnesses in normal healthy people
without warning. The smoke contains
cancer-causing compounds 12 times more powerful
than cigarette smoke. The carcinogenic
compounds attach to tiny smoke particles and
ride them into the
lungs and blood stream where they penetrate immune
defenses and attack internal organs causing,
strokes, heart failure, kidney failure, asthma,
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung
cancer, and breast cancer in healthy
people without warning. Symptoms may not appear
for months or even years giving little or no
warning until it is too late.
The EPA studies are factual proof that prescribed
burns are serious health hazards that kill
people but the U.S. Forest Service refuses to
listen. They argue that prescribed burns are
good money makers for their budget and plan to
continue their relentless campaign of death for
the next 20 years or more.
Prescribed Burns - Money
Makers Not Useful Tools
In the past, the U.S. Forest Service would burn a few hundred acres of forest land and
debris each year causing little harm, but
recently they have been burning thousands of
acres
daily while letting wildfires burn themselves
out at the same time causing heavy
smoke accumulations across the United
States.
The managed wildfires burn for weeks at a time
filling the air with toxic smoke
while prescribed
burns add even more. The smoke lingers over
populated areas for months at a time without
dissipating ruining scenic views, decreasing
property values, and killing people. Officials
argue that fire is a necessary natural
occurrence used to revitalize the forest in the
past and should be continued today through
prescribed burns and managed wildfires.
Consequently, those alleged revitalization fires
burned centuries ago in unpopulated areas having
little or no effect on public health where the
modern prescribed burns are done in populated areas endangering
millions of people daily.
There is a better way. Unlike fires that
kill trees, animals, and people, mechanical methods
such as tree thinning and mulching machines remove only
unwanted trees and brush grinding them into
healthy mulch leaving the
forest clean and healthy instead of burned and
charred. Mechanical methods are cleaner, safer
and properly maintain forest health while
protecting the environment from air pollution,
but officials argue that
prescribed burns are easier, cheaper and
increase their budget faster than other methods.
In a recent interview, one
Forest Service official stated that it is cheaper to
burn than to use mechanical methods, admitting
that budget money is their primary concern not
human life.
Another Forest Service official laughed when confronted
about citizen health concerns and stated that
they intend to continue burning as long as the
weather permits regardless of any health
concerns. Forestry officials are obviously
more concerned about budget money and bad
weather than public health and they clearly show a reckless
disregard for human life.
Prescribed burns must be
stopped.
Experts agree that prescribed burns and managed
wildfires will have little or no impacts on
future wildfire control or forest health but
admit that they are public health hazards that
could emit enough smoke pollution to kill
thousands of people annually. Most people believe that
it is happening now. The U.S. Forest Service has been
burning thousands of acres daily while allowing
hundreds of wildfires to burn themselves out
causing massive air pollution across the United
States. In short, they
are burning too much too often
without proper regulation causing
excessive smoke accumulations over populated
areas injuring millions of people. Smoke related
illnesses are being reported in record numbers.
Medical facilities are reporting increases in
respiratory illnesses, high blood pressure,
heart attacks, strokes, and more people are
using oxygen than ever before. People are
suffering in record numbers but forestry
officials don't seem to care. They laugh and joke about
our children's injuries and tell
people to move if they don't like the smoke.
Representative Steven Pearce blasts the
U.S. Forest Service for their reckless
incompetence in managing our national forests.
THIS IS A MUST SEE
VIDEO... CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON & ENJOY
It is time to demand congressional action to
stop the reckless pollution that is killing our
children. Use the links below to contact your Senators and Congressmen
and demand a stop to all funding for prescribed
burns and managed wildfires in the United
States.
