Wildfire Smoke: Here's How This Air Pollution Driver Poses Significant Health Risks

Air quality can profoundly affect mental and physical health, and wildfire smoke is one of the primary factors driving unhealthy air exposure.

Wildfire Smoke

A PM2.5 study from wildfire smoke discovered that levels increased by around five micrograms per cubic meter across the western US within the past decades. This is sufficient to reverse policy-driven air quality improvements made for several decades. PM2.5 is an air pollution type that consists of particulate matter that spans more or less 2.5 micrometers across, making it around 30 times smaller compared to a human hair's width.

A study also discovered that a quarter of the PM2.5 pollution in the US was due to wildfire smoke. Across the western area, up to half was caused by such smoke.

Last year, huge portions across the US saw notable declines in visibility and air quality as wildfire smoke from the Canadian border north billowed through the continent. Canada also saw the highest wildfire record in 2023, with burned land outstripping figures of all previous seasons.

This May 2024, Canada witnessed an early wildfire season start, with over 130 blazes across the country. At least one town was evacuated in British Columbia as flames perilously swept close. Smoke plumes blanketed huge areas in the country and blew to the US Upper Midwest, spurring health cautions.

Climate change is also expected to increase wildfire risk all over the world. With this, air quality may also continue suffering.

Health Effects of Wildfire Smoke

This would also pose tremendous health risks to people. The dangers of air pollution due to wildfires may partially depend on what is burning. In 2020, Siberia saw resinous peat and boreal forest burns, which led to the release of record-breaking pollution quantities, including high mercury concentrations.

Wildfire smoke has also been seen to harm some immune cells within the lungs, posing a four times greater toxicity than particulates from other pollution types. This also worsens with the aging of smoke. A study discovered that smoke toxicity doubled within the hours after its first emission, peaking at a toxicity level that is four times greater.

According to atmospheric chemist Athanasios Nenes from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, those far from the source of fire may still experience the adverse outcomes of inhaling oxidized and diluted smoke.

There is also growing evidence that shows that air pollution could also adversely affect mental health. The phenomenon has been linked to poorer school performance, impaired judgment, and even higher crime levels.

It is also thought that the inflammation caused by air pollution could affect the body's metabolism. Studies have associated air pollution, such as PM2.5, with obesity. For instance, children who live in the areas that are most polluted are more than twice as likely to be considered obese.

Growing evidence also shows that air pollution could contribute to the development of certain medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes. A significant analysis estimated that roughly one-fifth of the global type 2 diabetes burden could be due to PM2.5 pollution. Other studies suggest that another type of understudied air pollution, airborne microplastics, could disrupt the hormones responsible for metabolic regulation.

Toxic air exposure could also affect the olfactory senses. A 2021 study discovered that individuals in Baltimore who suffered anosmia, or the loss of smell, were from areas where levels of PM2.5 were significantly high. Another Italian research also discovered that the noses of young adults and teenagers ended up becoming less sensitive to odors following nitrogen dioxide exposure, which can be found in the fumes of traffic.

That said, almost everyone globally inhales air that has been polluted in some way. However, those who are hit worst by air pollution have the least ability to escape it or protect themselves from it.

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