When industry rates wood stove emissions, the tests are not required to include the start-up smoke. And any bylaws that exist to prevent excessive smoke always exempt start-up smoke.
However, this excluded 10-20 minutes of smoke produces exponentially more pollution than when the stove is running full tilt (which is already a lot of pollution. See Are new stoves a solution?).
Last week this youth, walking along a public sidewalk in Courtenay, got a full blast of this pollution. Do you think he cared that it was ‘just start-up smoke’ (a defence we often hear)?
Imagine the uproar if this was cigarette smoke.
Why the double standard about exposure to smoke? Both are full of harmful toxins and fine particulates. Both harm people’s health.
