Top paediatricians calls to scrap urban wood burners to protect children

Close-up of a log being put into a hot wood-burning stove.
-Credit: (Image: Getty)


Doctors have warned that wood burners should be scrapped from urban homes due to fears over children's health.

The Times reports that top paediatricians have called for the burners to be phased out as air pollution becomes the second leading risk factor for death in children under five.

In a statement, The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health recommended that the government “phaseout domestic wood burning in urban areas, assist rural residents to transition away from wood as a primary heating source and support those in fuel poverty with fuel cost assistance”.

READ MORE:Three types of cough kids suffer from and what to do - including when to call a GP

READ MORE:Sleep experts issue warning on popular trend with 'serious' health consequences

Dr Emily Parker, a clinical fellow at the RCPCH, said: “I see the impacts of air pollution on children during almost every shift...that’s why we’re calling on the government to tackle the top causes of PM2.5 [particulate matter] and nitrogen dioxide, the two air pollutants that are most harmful to children’s health. Air pollution limits across the UK are currently set dangerously high, often at four times WHO [World Health Organisation] guidelines.”

Warm fire flames logs burning in ClearView domestic multifuel stove burner inside home, UK. (Photo by: Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Wood burning stove -Credit:Geography Photos/Universal Images Group

Dr Michael McKean, RCPCH vice president for policy, said: “Breathing dirty air as a child irreversibly stunts lung growth and continues to affect lung capacity in adulthood; in some cases it can even result in death.”

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health also said it would want both Ella’s law and Awaab’s law to be approved by parliament.

Ella Roberta Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, nine, died in 2013 of asthma aggravated by London air pollution. Awaab Ishak died aged two in 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in his Rochdale home. The college also wants to see WHO air-quality guidelines followed.

The boom in popularity of wood burners in the UK has meant they have become Britain’s biggest source of PM2.5, one of the most harmful air pollutants, with domestic combustion accounting for 27 per cent of PM2.5 emissions in2021. This was more than what was produced by cars.

A government spokesman told The Times it was committed to “cleaning up our air and protecting the public from the harm of pollution” and was developing a strategy to impose legally binding targets on improving air quality.