Health warning to now be issued with new wood-burning stoves
New wood-burning stoves will have tighter limits on smoke emissions and carry health warning labels under the latest government plans.
Ministers have also proposed reducing the smoke limit from wood stoves by 80 per cent in a bid to reduce the air pollution they produce. This would force a reduction from five grams per hour to one gram per hour under current rules.
The measures are part of a UK-wide consultation launched on Thursday aimed at reducing harmful emissions and supporting cleaner technologies.
Stoves and wood sold for burning will be required to carry labels explaining the pollution they produce and their effects on human health.
Only new devices will be subject to the new rules, although industry estimates suggest that 70 percent of stoves tested since 2018 already meet the one-gram limit.
Another proposal sees the penalty for fuel suppliers selling damp wood, which produces more smoke than dry wood, be increased from £300 to £2,000.
Burning wood at home is one of the biggest sources of air pollution in the UK, contributing a fifth of fine particles; This is almost equal to road transport.
Wood-burning appliances used in homes are linked to 2,500 premature deaths per year in the UK, as well as 3,700 cases of diabetes and 1,500 cases of asthma.
Air quality minister Emma Hardy said: “Dirty air is robbing people of their health and costing our NHS millions every year to treat lung conditions and asthma.
“We are committed to cleaning our air.
“By limiting emissions levels and implementing new labels as outlined in our consultation, families will be able to make better, healthier choices when heating their homes.”
The consultation recommends that warning labels for stoves carry messages such as: “Please be aware that this appliance emits air pollution into and around your home which may harm your health.”
It is stated that the following statements may appear on the labels of wood sold for burning: “Burning at home causes air pollution, which negatively affects the health of you and your family.”
The new limit will reduce annual toxic emissions from wood burning by 10 percent over the next decade, according to the documents. Campaigners welcomed the changes but said “further action” was needed.
Jonathan Blades, head of policy at Asthma + Lung UK, welcomed the consultation’s recognition of the harm caused by domestic burning but said the proposals “fall well short of what is needed to protect the public from dangerously high levels of emissions”.
“If this government is serious about protecting public health, reducing the amount of PM2.5 we breathe must be a priority and the government must consult on bold, ambitious and supportive policy measures to reduce levels caused by domestic combustion,” he said.
Larissa Lockwood, Global Action Plan Policy and Campaign Director, said: “While measures to tighten pollution standards for wood-burning stoves and better inform people at the point of sale about the health risks of these products are a good first step, they do not go far enough.
“Less polluting stoves are like low-tar cigarettes; slightly better for your health, but still much worse than not using them in the first place.
“We want to see further action from government to give local authorities the powers they need to ensure everyone has access to cleaner, greener forms of heating and reduce harmful emissions for the benefit of local communities.”
