Wildfire smoke could have long-term health effects, but more study needed
Long-term health effects from wildfire smoke, like that which covered the Long Island Expressway on June 7, need to be studied further, scientists say. Credit: James Carbone
When Long Island and the surrounding region was coated with smoke from Canadian wildfires earlier this summer, it raised new concerns about the health and wellness impacts of air pollution.
Decades of research have shown that pollution from cars, power plants and other sources can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancer, in some people. In contrast, the study of wildfire smoke is more recent and has mostly focused on the short-term impacts, which have been easier to measure.
Understanding the long-term impacts of exposure to wildfire smoke is a vital piece of air pollution research, experts say, because what are now rare episodes in the Northeast could become more frequent in the coming years.
Dr. Robert Laumbach, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, said the composition of wildfire smoke does not mirror other types of air pollution.
“Wood smoke particles may be very different from power-plant particles or even from one wildfire to another, depending on what was burned and how it was burned,” Laumbach said.
The short-term effects of exposure to wildfire smoke include coughing, wheezing, eye irritation and difficulty breathing. Data has shown an increase in hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular issues among vulnerable populations, such as the elderly.
Asthma-related emergency department visits in New York, not including New York City, increased after wildfire smoke covered the region for several days in early June, state officials said. Data showed there were 147 asthma-related visits on June 7, while there was an average of 80 for the period of June 1 through June 6.
Overall, there was a statewide increase of 17.8% in the rates per 100,000 for June 7, over the period of June 1 through 5. For the New York City Metropolitan area, the increase was 28.4%.
Laumbach said it's possible the long-term health effects of wildfire smoke may be similar to those of other air pollution sources, but there is a different dynamic in terms of exposure that needs to be analyzed.
Everyday air pollution tends to exist in lower levels that fluctuate but remain relatively constant day to day, while wildfire smoke causes high levels of pollution over shorter periods of time that are generally less frequent.
Global trends show that wildfire seasons are getting longer, occurring at a more frequent pace and with greater damage, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"Climate change is playing an increasing role in determining wildfire regimes alongside human activity, with future climate variability expected to enhance the risk and severity of wildfires," IPCC researchers wrote in a 2022 report.
Wildfires raging in Canada’s Northwest Territories forced thousands of residents to evacuate in recent days. As of Saturday, there were 655 wildfires deemed out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Another 160 were reported as being held, and 224 were under control.
While maps suggest that the wildfire smoke may be drifting into the Northeast in the next few days, it is not expected to cause unhealthy levels of air on Long Island, according to Nelson Vaz, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Upton.
Exposure to air pollution overall can cause a range of health problems, including increased risk of asthma attacks, heart attacks and stroke, plus adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as low birthweight babies, experts said. And there also have been links between air pollution and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as cancer.
While Long Island's air quality has been rated "good" on most days, even lower levels of pollution over time can cause health problems, experts said. Day-to-day air pollution levels on Long Island are high enough to increase the population’s risk for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases over time, compared to populations that don’t live in areas with similar levels of air pollution, according to Dr. Kenneth Spaeth, division chief of occupational and environmental medicine at Northwell Health and Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine.
“If you are living far out East, it’s somewhat lower. If you are living close to the Long Island Expressway, the levels would be higher,” Spaeth said.
The composition of wildfire smoke is complex, according to the EPA. It includes gaseous pollutants such as carbon monoxide, as well as hazardous air pollutants, water vapor and particle pollution. “Particle pollution represents a main component of wildfire smoke and the principal public health threat,” according to the agency.
Spaeth said particulate matter is a broad category that includes everything from visible soot to invisible, ultrafine nanoparticles.
“It’s actually the small stuff we cannot see that’s the most dangerous to our health,” he said. “They’re so small, they pass right through our lungs when we breathe them in, leave our lungs, enter the circulatory system and travel all over our body.”
The presence of these small particles in the blood can cause plaque to rupture in the cardiovascular vessels, possibly leading to a heart attack, Spaeth said.
"They can cause damage that's a little longer lasting, maybe permanent," said Dr. Jeffrey Wolf, a pulmonologist and director of the surgical intensive care unit at St. Francis Hospital in Flower Hill.
But, he added, it’s hard to track because wildfire smoke usually only lasts for a day or two. If someone develops an illness, it's hard to “blame it on this one event that was lasting for two days.”
Dr. Christopher Tedeschi, associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, said the combination of smoke conditions and heat in June caused a spike in emergency department visits for respiratory conditions like asthma.
“Overall, the poor air quality likely contributes to the exacerbation of chronic diseases, like COPD and heart disease, in vulnerable populations,” he said. “Certainly populations without access to cool locations or clean air are more at risk.”
Experts have said studying the long-term effects of wildfire smoke, as opposed to other types of air pollution, is challenging because exposure happens in episodes over a period of days and weeks, and not year-round.
A 2021 review of several studies focused on the long-term health effects of wildfire smoke published in The Journal of Climate Change and Health said those papers showed “some correlations between wildfire exposure and multiple health effects, including increased mortality, respiratory illnesses, and cancer,” but emphasized that more research is needed.
Some experts have tried to compare inhaled cigarette smoke to inhaled wildlife smoke in an effort to explain the hazard to the general public. But Wolf said the risks aren't comparable.
"I think the real danger with the smoke that we're getting from forest fires right now is the microparticles," he said. "They cause more damage than just the equivalent of a certain amount of cigarettes."
When Long Island and the surrounding region was coated with smoke from Canadian wildfires earlier this summer, it raised new concerns about the health and wellness impacts of air pollution.
Decades of research have shown that pollution from cars, power plants and other sources can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancer, in some people. In contrast, the study of wildfire smoke is more recent and has mostly focused on the short-term impacts, which have been easier to measure.
Understanding the long-term impacts of exposure to wildfire smoke is a vital piece of air pollution research, experts say, because what are now rare episodes in the Northeast could become more frequent in the coming years.
Dr. Robert Laumbach, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, said the composition of wildfire smoke does not mirror other types of air pollution.
WHAT TO KNOW
- The long-term health effects of wildfire smoke should be studied since there might be more frequent events in the coming years, health experts said.
- Scientists know that exposure to air pollution from cars, power plants and other sources can cause cancer, as well as cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses.
- Particles from wildfire smoke can be dangerous because they can be inhaled, pass through the lungs and travel through the bloodstream.
“Wood smoke particles may be very different from power-plant particles or even from one wildfire to another, depending on what was burned and how it was burned,” Laumbach said.
The short-term effects of exposure to wildfire smoke include coughing, wheezing, eye irritation and difficulty breathing. Data has shown an increase in hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular issues among vulnerable populations, such as the elderly.
Asthma-related emergency department visits in New York, not including New York City, increased after wildfire smoke covered the region for several days in early June, state officials said. Data showed there were 147 asthma-related visits on June 7, while there was an average of 80 for the period of June 1 through June 6.
Overall, there was a statewide increase of 17.8% in the rates per 100,000 for June 7, over the period of June 1 through 5. For the New York City Metropolitan area, the increase was 28.4%.
Laumbach said it's possible the long-term health effects of wildfire smoke may be similar to those of other air pollution sources, but there is a different dynamic in terms of exposure that needs to be analyzed.
Everyday air pollution tends to exist in lower levels that fluctuate but remain relatively constant day to day, while wildfire smoke causes high levels of pollution over shorter periods of time that are generally less frequent.
Global trends show that wildfire seasons are getting longer, occurring at a more frequent pace and with greater damage, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"Climate change is playing an increasing role in determining wildfire regimes alongside human activity, with future climate variability expected to enhance the risk and severity of wildfires," IPCC researchers wrote in a 2022 report.
Wildfires raging in Canada’s Northwest Territories forced thousands of residents to evacuate in recent days. As of Saturday, there were 655 wildfires deemed out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Another 160 were reported as being held, and 224 were under control.
While maps suggest that the wildfire smoke may be drifting into the Northeast in the next few days, it is not expected to cause unhealthy levels of air on Long Island, according to Nelson Vaz, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Upton.
Smoke rises from a wildfire near Barrington Lake in Canada's Nova Scotia on May 28. Credit: Nova Scotia Government/AFP via G/Nova Scotia Government/AFP via Getty Images
Long Island air pollution increases health risks, doctor says
Exposure to air pollution overall can cause a range of health problems, including increased risk of asthma attacks, heart attacks and stroke, plus adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as low birthweight babies, experts said. And there also have been links between air pollution and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as cancer.
While Long Island's air quality has been rated "good" on most days, even lower levels of pollution over time can cause health problems, experts said. Day-to-day air pollution levels on Long Island are high enough to increase the population’s risk for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases over time, compared to populations that don’t live in areas with similar levels of air pollution, according to Dr. Kenneth Spaeth, division chief of occupational and environmental medicine at Northwell Health and Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine.
“If you are living far out East, it’s somewhat lower. If you are living close to the Long Island Expressway, the levels would be higher,” Spaeth said.
The composition of wildfire smoke is complex, according to the EPA. It includes gaseous pollutants such as carbon monoxide, as well as hazardous air pollutants, water vapor and particle pollution. “Particle pollution represents a main component of wildfire smoke and the principal public health threat,” according to the agency.
Spaeth said particulate matter is a broad category that includes everything from visible soot to invisible, ultrafine nanoparticles.
“It’s actually the small stuff we cannot see that’s the most dangerous to our health,” he said. “They’re so small, they pass right through our lungs when we breathe them in, leave our lungs, enter the circulatory system and travel all over our body.”
The presence of these small particles in the blood can cause plaque to rupture in the cardiovascular vessels, possibly leading to a heart attack, Spaeth said.
"They can cause damage that's a little longer lasting, maybe permanent," said Dr. Jeffrey Wolf, a pulmonologist and director of the surgical intensive care unit at St. Francis Hospital in Flower Hill.
But, he added, it’s hard to track because wildfire smoke usually only lasts for a day or two. If someone develops an illness, it's hard to “blame it on this one event that was lasting for two days.”
Smoky conditions caused by Canadian wildfires affec pedestrians in Central Islip on June 7. Credit: James Carbone
June smoke caused spike in ER visits
Dr. Christopher Tedeschi, associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, said the combination of smoke conditions and heat in June caused a spike in emergency department visits for respiratory conditions like asthma.
“Overall, the poor air quality likely contributes to the exacerbation of chronic diseases, like COPD and heart disease, in vulnerable populations,” he said. “Certainly populations without access to cool locations or clean air are more at risk.”
Experts have said studying the long-term effects of wildfire smoke, as opposed to other types of air pollution, is challenging because exposure happens in episodes over a period of days and weeks, and not year-round.
A 2021 review of several studies focused on the long-term health effects of wildfire smoke published in The Journal of Climate Change and Health said those papers showed “some correlations between wildfire exposure and multiple health effects, including increased mortality, respiratory illnesses, and cancer,” but emphasized that more research is needed.
Some experts have tried to compare inhaled cigarette smoke to inhaled wildlife smoke in an effort to explain the hazard to the general public. But Wolf said the risks aren't comparable.
"I think the real danger with the smoke that we're getting from forest fires right now is the microparticles," he said. "They cause more damage than just the equivalent of a certain amount of cigarettes."
Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.
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