We need to face facts, burning turf kills people

Modern Ireland has moved on from the days of 'one man and his bog'

Thu, 14 Apr, 2022 - 15:57

John Sodeau

Burning peat/turf or coal in your home can kill you, your family and your neighbours.

The reason is that the burning process releases carcinogenic vapours, toxic gases and small particles. They are all invisible assassins, particularly toward the most vulnerable in our population (the young, the old, asthmatics and those with an existing cardio condition).

The small particles (20 to 500 can sit side by side in the width of a human hair) enter our bodies through our lungs, go into our bloodstream, then heart and brains. Indeed every cell in our body is susceptible to damage by particulate matter.

And it can lead to hospital stays due to diabetes, dementia and miscarriage. That is not acceptable to me.

For me, the main function of government is to protect the health and well-being of its citizens, not to improve chances for re-election. Leadership should be brave. Not simply self-serving. Nobody likes a nanny state, but in the case of burning solid fuel I think that Mother Nature knows best.

It certainly knows that we need to keep carbon in the ground. Otherwise, we not only commit acts of self-harm in our homes but also cause irreversible, adverse impacts on our climate.

Copy the smoking ban

In 2004, Ireland’s government of the day introduced national comprehensive legislation banning smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants. That was brave.

But now removed from the passionate arguments made by both sides at that time ask yourself, in 2022, how our collective health has benefitted. Both emotionally in terms of loss of family and friends as well as the financial savings to the Health Service.

Information campaigns were carried out then and now so that people knew the damage they were doing to themselves and others around them. Today, “emotional” attachments to cigarettes have become a thing of the past.

And so also today, we need to drop the comforting memories of crackling peat fires, soothing flames and childhood smells. Otherwise, you might die. Why not mimic those campaigns which give health warnings on tobacco products, but put instead on bags of coal and peat.

My blurb would go something like this. “Burning Solid Fuel Kills. It can cause heart failure, stroke, diabetes, dementia, miscarriage and lead to asthma attacks. Adverse health problems can also result from the direct effects of burning solid fuel on climate change”.

So, to me, the case for a ban on selling turf/peat and smoky coal is clear. Just do it.

Thankfully, I do not live in the world of political party turf wars that our politicians inhabit. However, “let me drink fine wine and eat penne pasta while the hoi polloi end up in hospital” leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Politicians must lead and realise that the day of 'one man and his bog', although it should not be eliminated, must take a back seat in modern Ireland.

The alternatives

It would be irresponsible of me not to provide some ideas for alternative fuel strategies for those who have no turbary rights and no other heating system in their homes, although the air pollution problem emitted from solid fuel burning in Ireland is much more widespread than that.

So I will set out my strategy for doing just that. It requires finance, education and leadership.

It also recognises, from CSO statistics that over 80% of homes here use oil, gas or electric central heating as a primary source of heating. In contrast, just 5% use peat as a primary heat source.

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Those with central heating often also use an open fire or woodstove. I would ban that practice.

I would use the money generated from carbon tax and health service savings to insulate homes that do rely only on solid fuel burning and then to advise and pay for cleaner heating technologies. And yes I mean pay for. Totally.

To paraphrase Heaney, 'wintering out' does not mean to me that we need to burn solid fuel of any type (coal, wood or peat). It means being sensible to survive.

Government won't 'put your granny in prison for burning turf': Ryan