Liz from Australia

Our daughter was seven years old. One winter her asthma had been getting worse. The air in our inner suburb was heavily polluted with smoke from local wood heaters. Like many people we were unaware wood smoke was harmful. Wood heaters/stoves are the single largest source of human made air pollution in our country yet inexplicably so often overlooked as a source of air pollution. From the age of six months our daughter had ongoing respiratory related illnesses -bronchiolitis, coughs, multiple operations for ear infections, adenoids and tonsils. Meanwhile ongoing levels of wood smoke in our neighbourhood. Her wheeze had been getting worst and she was not improving with medications prescribed by our GP. We took her to hospital and within 10 minutes of being admitted I was pushed out of the room as multiple medical staff rushed in to save her life. She survived just - but it was terrifying ordeal for her, us and the staff. Later one of the doctors asked if we had a smoker at home. Since then we have researched wood smoke and purchased numerous air filters. Wood heaters are hugely popular so they are everywhere - we can’t move to an area without them. Governments everywhere need to phase out this unnecessary and seriously harmful form of home heating.