Can someone help me out concerning the dioxins emitted from burning leaves/trash?

Question

I live in Georgia, thirty minutes south of Atlanta, and everyone here, it seems, is completely enamored of burning their leaves and sometimes their trash, too. Almost everyday I smell it in my car. Now, burning trash, especially from a burn barrel, emits a slew of dioxins, heavy metals, carbon monoxide, benzopyrene, amongst other carcinogens. My question is as thus: When driving along, and the smell of something burning wafts into your vehicle, yet you aren't in range of the smoke, are you still having exposure to any and all of these chemicals? When exposure to them is very minimal, can the body protect itself by discarding the substances, or does every breath count towards accumulating the toxins in your body?

I am particularly concerned about dioxins, which have a half life of approximately eight years in the body. Does even such a transient exposure as the 1-2 minutes you get the odor in when driving down the road have have the capacity to lodge themselves in the body so long?

Answer 1

Well as you stated that the area in which live at people regularly burn their leaves and sometimes even TRASH.  Burning leaves itself omits carbon monoxide which binds with hemoglobin and reduce t he amount of oxygen in your blood and lungs. Benzo(a)pyrene is also released when burring leaves causes cancer to animals and humans.  The overall air quality  is reduced when people burn leaves especially if it burning leaves in a particular area is somewhat of a routine.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), several leaf and yard waste fires burning simultaneously in a particular locale can cause air pollution rivaling that from factories, motor vehicles and lawn equipment.

Now the amount of trash being burned with the leaves can cause Dioxins to be airborne and eventually settle in fields.  This is alarming because livestock may consume the dioxins and can enter our food chain.  The amount of dioxins omitted depends on what types of trash is being burned.  If you're in an area that regularly burns trash such as newspapers, milk cartons and etc.  More than likely the smell of burning trash can indicate that you're being exposed to dioxins and furan toxins, but even if you can't smell the burn the toxins can drift and settle where the actual smell hasn't.

It's best to mulch leaves and bushes.  Start compost site and dispose of uneaten food that way to reduce the amount of trash. Recycling plastics and metals are best and have the garbage company pick them up and separate it from regular trash pickups.  Garbage companies are doing their best to help with the environment now.

It's best to start with you and express your concerns with family and friends....good ideas spread.

Answer 2

I doubt burning of leaves creates dioxins as dioxins require chlorine to form.