The Editor,
October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is coming to an end. But some cancer-linked toxins keep on flourishing, especially as temperatures drop, in the form of wood smoke emissions from wood-fuelled fireplaces. Lung and respiratory diseases are also contributed to by wood smoke, as are heart attacks and stroke.
The smoke emission of one wood-burning fireplace can pollute an entire neighbourhood and can put people at risk; and this health risk can be multiplied by second-hand tobacco smoke. Here, too, cancer may be the end result.
Cancer has brought so much grief to so many families, not only through breast cancer but other strains as well, and year after year, hundreds of millions of dollars are raised for cancer research and much of this money will be spent in vain if cancer-causing agents remain in our environment.
I believe now is the time to have a more serious look into preventive measures at the home base while scientists are looking for a cure.
All levels of government and authorities of health departments seem to have failed us by not setting stricter guidelines that could have prevented many cancer cases.
Brie Oishi,
Port Coquitlam
