Wood burning pollution leads to 8,600 premature US deaths a year, study finds

Far from being a rural problem, wood burning air pollution heavily affects populations in many big US cities, researchers say. Photograph: PamWalker68/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Air pollution from home wood burning is estimated to lead to 8,600 premature deaths in the US each year, according to research.

Just 2% of US homes use wood for primary heating. Another 8% burn wood for pleasure, aesthetics or supplementary heating, but combined they produce 21% of the country’s wintertime particle pollution.