http://www.woodheat.org/woodpile/ Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:15:23 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.woodheat.org/woodpile/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24#josc61 Thanks for this great explanation of a very compilcated subject. I wonder if anyone knew the answer to a question that bugs me. Only 2 years ago our Township Council stopped offering directions on how to construct a burn barrel. Needless to say, around here PVC and everything gets burned in stoves and backyards. Many costal woodheaters burn salt water driftwood. Is either of these cause for concern for those of us who have gardens, birds or babies nearby? Cal Wallis Cal Wallis Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:17:27 +0100 http://www.woodheat.org/woodpile/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24#josc62 Good question. I hadn\'t considered the local impact from nearby sources, mainly, I guess, because when I was involved in the Canadian federal emissions inventory process on dioxins about ten years ago, nobody talked in those terms. They talked about the national inventory, not local impacts. At that time most of the industrial sources had been eliminated and the biggest remaining sources were so-called trench burning of garbage in Newfoundland and some residual salt-impregnated wood wastes in teepee burners in British Columbia. I may not have those details exactly right because I haven\'t had anything to do with dioxin inventories in several years. But I don\'t recall any particular concern about the local impacts in either Newfoundland or BC being expressed. On the other hand, I just read that the infamous Love canal near Niagra was the site of the burial of 130 pounds of dioxin, as well as 20,000 tons of other toxic wastes, and it was certainly considered a local problem. See: [url]http://jersey.uoregon.edu/~mstrick/RogueComCollege/RCC_Lectures/LoveCanal.html[/url] From what I know of dioxin transport (and it isn\'t much) it travels a long way. There are high concentrations of dioxin in the breast milk of Inuit women in Nunavut, but the source is southern industry. See: [url]http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-66408448.html[/url] I hesitate to say don\'t worry about a neighbor\'s burn barrel because I don\'t know enough about the subject. Good question, though. Maybe another reader knows. John Gulland Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:45:39 +0100 http://www.woodheat.org/woodpile/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24#josc63 It may always seem to be a small step or a minor contribution, but it may be a huge bonus for our immediate environment . And that of our neighbours. Cal Wallis wrote: [quote]Thanks for this great explanation of a very compilcated subject. I wonder if anyone knew the answer to a question that bugs me. Only 2 years ago our Township Council stopped offering directions on how to construct a burn barrel. Needless to say, around here PVC and everything gets burned in stoves and backyards. Many costal woodheaters burn salt water driftwood. Is either of these cause for concern for those of us who have gardens, birds or babies nearby? Cal Wallis[/quote] Mitch Preece Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:58:54 +0100 http://www.woodheat.org/woodpile/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24#josc64 I found this article to provide incredibly helpful information about dioxin, and wondered if anyone might have information about furan, which is grouped together with dioxin in the reports that are referenced? Vanessa Percival Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:25:45 +0100 http://www.woodheat.org/woodpile/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24#josc65 Vanessa: [quote]information about furan, which is grouped together with dioxin in the reports that are referenced? [/quote] Dioxin is a kind of catch-all term for a group of chemicals. When referencing dioxin, scientists often refer to \'dioxins and dioxin-like compounds\', one of which is furans. [img]http://woodheat.org/images/dioxinfuran.gif[/img] The dioxin and furan are short form names. The full names of these compounds are: polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and Polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) Within the dioxin and furan family is a long list of variations called congeners, each of which has slightly different chemical structure and properties. But we should probably do what the scientists do, which is to simplify the whole discussion by grouping them all together as dioxins. John Gulland Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:19:18 +0100