City council commits to study health effects of wood-burning stoves

Addressing council on Nov. 24, Stella Haley said she wants to examine the ambient air quality in Westmount with regards to wood burning. "I have researched this and we have over 3,000 studies that indicate that children are at very high risk," she said. "In view of the fact that we have significant evidence that the EPA wood-burning certified stoves emit much higher dioxin, much higher furins in independent research, and this is associated with breast cancer, I ask if you would consider obviously adopting even a stronger approach."

Citing environmental and health concerns, the Town of Hampstead recently decided to pass a bylaw cracking down on the use of wood-burning appliances. The by-law defines such appliances as "a fireplace insert, wood stove, central furnace or similar device, including a pellet stove and any outdoor solid fuel combustion appliance," although it does not apply to barbeques.

Saying she was the mother of a child who had cancer, Haley added, "I see an opportunity to prevent unnecessary exposure risks to these clearly high carcinogenic emissions. So I would appreciate if you could look at that and take it very seriously."

Marks said the matter had been added to the agenda for city council's environmental committee for further study. "We will be looking at it," she said.

Councillor Tom Thompson, who chairs city council's Healthy City Project Steering Committee, said Bruce Walker, a longtime Montreal environmental activist, had spoken to the environmental committee on the issue. "He made a wonderful presentation," said Thompson. "We are encouraged to be looking at more of the details and some of the research you have been referencing, because there are some units through research that are good and effective in certain conditions for burning, but not with wood. And we're looking at the implications long-term for even people who are building a house in the future."

While he was less concerned about the burning of wood pellets, Thompson said he had serious reservations about the burning of wood. "You have to look at the pellets and the other things that they're experimenting with in Europe and other places," he said. "But wood-burning I have yet to see that, and we're looking at it very carefully."