Health Effects Wildfire Smoke

[prairiewindmomma]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/19/wildfires-new-york-canada-toxicologist

This is one of the better articles I have seen on how wildfire smoke affects the body. Given that a lot of us are likely to see a smoky summer at some point, I thought I would share it here.

[GoVanGogh]

Given what I now know about bladder cancer, I would also add that to any list of concerns. Be sure to drink plenty of water and urinate often. If you hold it until it until it feels urgent or even slightly painful to hold, you have waited way too long. The bladder is the last point in our body’s filtration system and toxins can sit in the bladder and form cancer, over the long term. Firefighters and smokers are most at risk, but my DH was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer and he is neither of those. His mother did smoke while pregnant and DH grew up in a household of smokers. 

[gardenmom5]

A few years back, when we were getting lots of smoke from Canada . . (side eye.  There was *ash* on 2ds's car!, and the smoke was so thick I could see it between me and the house across the street.)   I could smell it inside my house when all the windows were closed.  

Masks . . . 

[Not_a_Number]

From what I've seen, no one knows the answers -- it hasn't been studied enough. 

I saw someone compare the exposure over a few hours to smoking 3-4 cigarettes per day. Don't know if that's right, but it gave me some sense of the order of magnitude, and I found that helpful. 

[Lecka]

I took my daughter to the doctor one time in Kansas, I don’t remember exactly why, she was seeming to have an allergy or something like that.

The doctor told me it had been a prescribed burn week and he was having quite a few kids in that week with similar symptoms.  
 

Hers weren’t “that” bad but were bad enough for me to take her in.

 

I didn’t even know there were prescribed burns, our air looked completely normal, we weren’t anywhere very near any burns, and they aren’t burning very many acres.  
 

That has always given me a bad feeling for how much worse it would be for vulnerable groups.  
 

It’s so concerning and I just think “life is unfair” about this smoke.  

[bookbard]

If you're in an area where they're fighting fires, another issue is PFAS from the firefighting foam. It's a big issue in Australia at the moment. Apparently donating blood can decrease it in your blood - a firefighter looked into it when he saw women less affected due to menstruation. 

However, the smoke is probably a far bigger issue. A lot of people in our area ended up with eye issues, I guess the particles constantly irritating the eye.

[Faith-manor]

Sigh, and with climate change this is only going to get worse. Note to self, invest in more N95's for my family, and make sure all our kids have a hepa room air filter so they can hunker down in one room of their homes.