As Politicians Quarrel Over Wildfire Smoke, Research on Its Health Impacts Piles Up – Inside Climate News

The dog days of summer are synonymous with sizzling temperatures, longer nights and … wildfire smoke? 

As climate change supercharges wildfires, smoke from these blazes is becoming more pervasive, particularly throughout the peak months of the season in July and August. The health impacts of this haze go far beyond a pesky cough. In recent years, piles of research have helped piece together many of the short- and long-term risks of wildfire smoke, from lung problems to reproductive issues. Now, several new studies provide even more clues to this unsettling public health puzzle.

Meanwhile, as wildfires rage across North America, government rollbacks and arguments between the U.S. and Canada are fanning the flames of controversy around wildfire smoke—and how best to combat it. 

A Long List of Risks: Oftentimes, people see the smoke produced by a wildfire before the inferno itself. Tearing through forests, grasslands and even cities, wildfires release massive amounts of fine particulate matter, which are incredibly small at 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter. Once inhaled, these particles can wreak all sorts of havoc on the body. 

Wildfire smoke can penetrate deep into the lungs, where it causes difficulty breathing and exacerbates asthma. Recently released data showed a significant rise in asthma-related emergency visits in 2023 when wildfire smoke drifted across the border from Canada into southern New Jersey, where residents are concerned about the rising risks of smoke in the region, as Anna Matson reported for Inside Climate News. New York City saw a similar uptick in asthma-related ER visits during that event.

Smoke particles can also cross into the bloodstream and travel to different parts of the body, including the brain and heart. Data suggests that wildfire smoke can cause memory loss, worsen existing mental illnesses or inhibit cognitive development. Studies show that these emissions can also have profound impacts on reproduction, associated with decreased sperm motility and increased risk of preterm birth. 

Wildfire smoke affects some people disproportionately, especially firefighters and those who have pre-existing lung conditions, little access to proper filtration during a blaze or work outside. Kids are particularly at risk due to their more rapid breaths and smaller lungs, Mongabay reports. Recent UNICEF data revealed that haze from landscape fires caused 270,000 deaths in children younger than 5 years old, the majority in low-income countries. 

So what exactly is causing this slew of health problems? Scientists are still figuring this out, but a study published in June found that exposure to smoke can alter the immune system at a cellular level. 

The researchers found that blood from 31 smoke-exposed adults showed elevated levels of memory CD8+ T cells—suggesting an immune reaction—and biomarkers that indicate inflammation and immune activity. Their blood also revealed changes in more than 130 genes related to allergies and asthma, and more of their immune cells were polluted with toxic metals such as mercury and cadmium.

Fiery Politics: One of the most dangerous things about wildfire smoke is that it isn’t confined to its source. These hazes can travel hundreds or thousands of miles, worsening air quality across every region it passes through. Like many people, I’ve witnessed this phenomenon myself when smoke from the 2023 Canada wildfires traveled hundreds of miles to New York City, turning blue skies orange—almost as if a sepia filter had been applied to the entire region. 

The same thing is happening this year as deadly wildfires tear through Western Canada and push smoke to states in the upper Midwestern U.S. In response, six Republican members of Congress from Wisconsin and Minnesota sent a letter to their Canadian neighbors with one main message: Keep the smoke away from this side of the border. 

“As we are entering the height of the fire season, we would like to know how your government plans on mitigating wildfire and the smoke that makes its way south,” the letter reads. It was addressed to Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the United States. “In our neck of the woods, summer months are the best time of the year to spend time outdoors recreating, enjoying time with family, and creating new memories, but this wildfire smoke makes it difficult to do all those things.” 

The letter blamed Canada’s wildfire problems primarily on arson and a lack of forest management, though experts say the vast majority of these infernos have been caused by lightning and dry vegetation, a problem worsened by the extreme weather conditions of a rapidly changing climate. The flames are primarily burning through remote areas where forest management techniques like prescribed burns are not feasible, The New York Times reports. 

Tarryn Elliott, a spokeswoman at the Canadian Embassy, said in an email to The New York Times that “Canada takes the prevention, response and mitigation of wildfires very seriously.” Meanwhile, Wab Kinew, the premier of Manitoba—where two people recently died in the wildfires—rebuked the letter. 

“This is what turns people off politics … when you’ve got a group of congresspeople trying to trivialize and make hay out of a wildfire season where we’ve lost lives in our province,” Kinew said at a press conference last Thursday. 

Beyond slowing or stopping a fire, there is no way to keep smoke from traveling to different countries once it starts to spread. That goes for America, too: Recent wildfires in California and Washington blew a haze into Western Canada. 

The U.S. monitors its own air quality levels through a network of countrywide sensors that feed into tools like the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow system. However, experts are concerned that recent staff cuts and proposals to ax funding at the agency could make it difficult to access data, communicate public health risks and continue long-term research projects on wildfire smoke, which Leigh Giangreco recently reported for Inside Climate News right after smoke pervaded the skies of Chicago. 

Asked then about public-health cuts, a White House official wrote that the Department of Health and Human Services was “not ‘cutting’ these functions – air quality efforts will be managed by the newly formed Administration for Healthy America.” The Trump administration’s proposal for the agency next fiscal year called for lopping 26 percent out of its budget, and more than half from EPA’s.

As politicians quarrel and research funding remains up in the air, there are still ways for individuals to reduce their exposure to wildfire smoke. You can monitor smoke in your area using the EPA’s AirNow tool. If conditions become unhealthy, the main recommendation is to stay inside. It’s important to keep an eye on this, given that exercising outside in smoky conditions even once can inhibit blood vessel and nervous system functions, according to a study published in June. 

However, as I reported last year, just because you are inside doesn’t necessarily mean you are safe from wildfire smoke. These emissions can seep in through the cracks and crevices of your home, which is why air filtration is crucial. Joseph Allen, who studies indoor air quality, told me that MERV 13 air filters or portable air cleaners with a HEPA filter are among the most effective for consumers. But chemicals from smoke can linger for months, as Anna Gibbs reported in March for Inside Climate News, so researchers suggest a thorough cleaning of your home after a wildfire event. 

The key takeaway: “Outdoor air pollution is not just an outdoor problem,” Allen told me last year. “All of this penetrates inside the places where we live and work and go to school. And so we have to start thinking of buildings as a key component of climate resiliency.” 

Postcard From … Iceland

To kick off our “Postcards From” feature, our reader Debra sent some beautiful photos of her recent trip to Iceland. The top photo is of the rapidly receding glacier Sólheimajökull, which has shrunk significantly in recent decades due to climate change. The bottom photo shows lupines that bloom each summer in the Nordic country.

“We asked a guide about them. They are everywhere around Reykjavik. We were told that they were brought in from Alaska, where they are indigenous, thinking with similar conditions they might grow well. Turns out they LOVE Iceland, and some residents now consider them an invasive species.  We take away with one hand, gift extravagantly with the other.” — Debra

Please keep sending in your own recent nature photos (rural, urban and everything in between) to [email protected].

More Top Climate News

A wildfire tearing through Northern Arizona destroyed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge in the iconic national park, The Associated Press reports. The fire, one of two in the area, had been allowed to burn for several days before growing more severe. Now, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is calling for a federal investigation on why the National Park Service did not fight the fire more aggressively from the start, considering the current dry and hot conditions in the state. The agency is among those hobbled by huge reductions in staff.

“As the fires continue to burn, we feel the weight of the devastating loss of the North Rim’s irreplaceable natural and historic resources, including the Grand Canyon Lodge,” Sanober Mirza, the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association’s Arizona program manager, said in a statement. “As wildfires and other disasters increase in frequency and intensity, parks need the proper resources to manage them.”

At least 100 people are still missing in Texas following the deadly flash floods that hit the central part of the state. Meanwhile, rains have triggered severe flooding on the East Coast over the last week, inundating communities from North Carolina to Vermont. Yesterday, rain pummeled New York and New Jersey, causing flash floods that killed two people, cut off major highways and parts of the NYC subway system. 

A project to identify and track birds across the U.S. managed by the U.S. Geological Survey could soon lose most of its funding due to budget cuts proposed by President Donald Trump, former ICN fellow Alexa Robles-Gil reports for The New York Times. Bird banding is critical for informing avian conservation efforts and setting limits on hunting. Many hunters support bird banding to keep track of their catches and ensure the long-term survival of these species, and they are unhappy about the potential cuts.

“I just hate the thought of losing that,” Eric Patterson, a duck hunter based in Alabama, told The Times. “It is an extreme measure to take.”