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Purpose of reviewIncreasing wildfire size and severity across the western United States has created an environmental and social crisis that must be approached from a transdisciplinary perspective. Climate change and more than a century of fire exclusion and wildfire suppression have led to contemporary wildfires with more severe environmental impacts and human smoke exposure. Wildfires increase smoke exposure for broad swaths of the US population, though outdoor workers and socially disadvantaged groups with limited adaptive capacity can be disproportionally exposed. Exposure to wildfire smoke is associated with a range of health impacts in children and adults, including exacerbation of existing respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, worse birth outcomes, and cardiovascular events. Seasonally dry forests in Washington, Oregon, and California can benefit from ecological restoration as a way to adapt forests to climate change and reduce smoke impacts on affected communities.Recent findingsEach wildfire season, large smoke events, and their adverse impacts on human health receive considerable attention from both the public and policymakers. The severity of recent wildfire seasons has state and federal governments outlining budgets and prioritizing policies to combat the worsening crisis. This surging attention provides an opportunity to outline the actions needed now to advance research and practice on conservation, economic, environmental justice, and public health interests, as well as the trade-offs that must be considered. Scientists, planners, foresters and fire managers, fire safety, air quality, and public health practitioners must collaboratively work together. This article is the result of a series of transdisciplinary conversations to find common ground and subsequently provide a holistic view of how forest and fire management intersect with human health through the impacts of smoke and articulate the need for an integrated approach to both planning and practice.

Wildland fires are diminishing air quality on a seasonal and regional basis, raising concerns about respiratory health risks to the public and occupational groups. This American Thoracic Society (ATS) workshop was convened in 2019 to meet the growing health threat of wildland fire smoke. The workshop brought together a multidisciplinary group of 19 experts, including wildland fire managers, public health officials, epidemiologists, toxicologists, and pediatric and adult pulmonologists. The workshop examined the following four major topics: 1) the science of wildland fire incidence and fire management, 2) the respiratory and cardiovascular health effects of wildland fire smoke exposure, 3) communication strategies to address these health risks, and 4) actions to address wildland fire health impacts. Through formal presentations followed by group discussion, workshop participants identified top priorities for fire management, research, communication, and public policy to address health risks of wildland fires. The workshop concluded that short-term exposure to wildland smoke causes acute respiratory health effects, especially among those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Research is needed to understand long-term health effects of repeated smoke exposures across fire seasons for children, adults, and highly exposed occupational groups (especially firefighters). Other research priorities include fire data collection and modeling, toxicology of different fire fuel sources, and the efficacy of health protective measures to prevent respiratory effects of smoke exposure. The workshop committee recommends a unified federal response to the growing problem of wildland fires, including investment in fire behavior and smoke air quality modeling, research on the health impacts of smoke, and development of robust clinical and public health communication tools.

The unprecedented 2021 Heat Dome caused wide-ranging and long-lasting impacts in western Canada, including 619 confirmed heat-related deaths in British Columbia, a doubling of emergency medical calls, increased hospitalisations, infrastructure failures and stress on plants and animals. However, such varied socio-economic consequences of extreme heat can be challenging to capture using a single post-event analysis method. Therefore, there is a need to explore alternative approaches and data sources. Using the 2021 Heat Dome as a case study, a post-event analysis using online news media articles (n = 2909) from 5 subscription news databases and a grey literature search was conducted to identify the socio-economic impacts of the extreme heat event in Canada. The articles reported a wide range of effects to the natural environment (n = 1366), social infrastructure and services (n = 1121), human health (n = 1074), critical infrastructure (n = 988) and the private sector (n = 165). The media-based post-event analysis captured various impacts, some of which have not been identified through other data sources and approaches. Overall, we show that media analysis can complement traditional post-event analysis methods and provide additional perspectives to governments and public health and safety officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the creation of biotoxins, marine benthic dinoflagellates have caused many concerns in the ecological, economic, and health sectors. The occurrence of marine toxic microalgae blooms has increased and has caused prevalent poisoning in humans. Many dinoflagellates are benthic and epiphytic, in the sense that they usually live on the bottom of coastal areas or coral reefs and macroalgae, and during widespread blooms, because of their proximity to the coast, they can cause widespread health and economic damage. In addition, by entering the food web, dinoflagellates can spread from small organisms (such as zooplankton) to the bodies of larger aquatic organisms (such as fish), thus threatening human health. The current study was conducted to study the potential risks of dinoflagellates causing harmful algal blooms as species with the potential to produce toxins. The findings of this study showed that 80 phytoplankton species have the potential to produce poison, of which 20 benthic species cause the strongest marine biotoxins, which are deadly for aquatic animals and humans. The most dangerous of these biotoxins include gomyautoxin, brevetoxins, saxitoxin, palytoxin, yessotoxins, maitotoxins, ciguatoxins, okadaic acid, and azaspiracid, which cause widespread death of aquatic organisms in case of harmful algal blooms, and cause acute and fatal poisoning if they enter the human body. The findings of the review of previous research clearly show the notability of knowing benthic toxic dinoflagellates and the requirement to include them in monitoring programs for harmful algal blooms on beaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is increasing evidence that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter [PM Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the associations between daily and subdaily (hourly) P[M.sub.2.5] and wildfire smoke exposure and cognitive performance in adults. Methods: Scores from 20 plays of an attention-oriented brain-training game were obtained for 10,228 adults in the United States (U.S.). We estimated daily and hourly P[M.sub.2.5] exposure through a data fusion of observations from multiple monitoring networks. Daily smoke exposure in the western U.S. was obtained from satellite-derived estimates of smoke plume density. We used a longitudinal repeated measures design with linear mixed effects models to test for associations between short-term exposure and attention score. Results were also stratified by age, gender, user behavior, and region. Results: Daily and subdaily P[M.sub.2.5] were negatively associated with attention score. A 10 [micro]g/[m.sup.3] increase in P[M.sub.2.5] in the 3 h prior to gameplay was associated with a 21.0 [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.3, 38.7]-point decrease in score. P[M.sub.2.5] exposure over 20 plays accounted for an estimated average 3.7% (95% CI: 0.7%, 6.7%) reduction in final score. Associations were more pronounced in the wildfire-impacted western U.S. Medium and heavy smoke density were also negatively associated with score. Heavy smoke density the day prior to gameplay was associated with a 117.0 (95% CI: 1.7, 232.3)-point decrease in score relative to no smoke. Although differences between subgroups were not statistically significant, associations were most pronounced for younger (18-29 y), older ([greater than or equal to]70 y), habitual, and male users. Discussion: Our results indicate that P[M.sub.2.5] and wildfire smoke were associated with reduced attention in adults within hours and days of exposure, but further research is needed to elucidate these relationships. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10498, Introduction Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of particulate matter (PM) and gases containing many chemical species. (1) Both wildfire smoke and many of its components have been previously associated [...]

Background: Forest, grass, and peat fires release approximately 2 petagrams of carbon into the atmosphere each year, influencing weather, climate, and air quality.Objective: We estimated the annual global mortality attributable to landscape fire smoke (LFS).Methods: Daily and annual exposure to particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) from fire emissions was estimated globally for 1997 through 2006 by combining outputs from a chemical transport model with satellite-based observations of aerosol optical depth. In World Health Organization (WHO) subregions classified as sporadically affected, the daily burden of mortality was estimated using previously published concentration–response coefficients for the association between short-term elevations in PM2.5 from LFS (contrasted with 0 μg/m3 from LFS) and all-cause mortality. In subregions classified as chronically affected, the annual burden of mortality was estimated using the American Cancer Society study coefficient for the association between long-term PM2.5 exposure and all-cause mortality. The annual average PM2.5 estimates were contrasted with theoretical minimum (counterfactual) concentrations in each chronically affected subregion. Sensitivity of mortality estimates to different exposure assessments, counterfactual estimates, and concentration–response functions was evaluated. Strong La Niña and El Niño years were compared to assess the influence of interannual climatic variability.Results: Our principal estimate for the average mortality attributable to LFS exposure was 339,000 deaths annually. In sensitivity analyses the interquartile range of all tested estimates was 260,000–600,000. The regions most affected were sub-Saharan Africa (157,000) and Southeast Asia (110,000). Estimated annual mortality during La Niña was 262,000, compared with 532,000 during El Niño.Conclusions: Fire emissions are an important contributor to global mortality. Adverse health outcomes associated with LFS could be substantially reduced by curtailing burning of tropical rainforests, which rarely burn naturally. The large estimated influence of El Niño suggests a relationship between climate and the burden of mortality attributable to LFS.

Springtime road dust is a common air quality concern for northern latitudes communities. Traction material, brake wear, tire wear, and other particles entrained in snow during winter become re-suspended into the air as the snow melts. Characterization of within-season variability of road dust composition and weather conditions is critical to understanding its acute health impacts. Sixty 24-hour samples of PM10 were collected with a high-volume sampler at a near-road site in Prince George, British Columbia. Near-road samples were collected intermittently in winter and daily in spring. All samples were analyzed for 18 trace elements. We used data from a nearby regulatory monitor to estimate daily coarse fraction (PM10–2.5). Proportion of PM10–2.5 in PM10 was used to classify days as high or low road dust based on a threshold of 65% PM10–2.5. We identified clusters of near-road samples based on weather parameters and PM10 components using Bayesian profile regression (BPR). Twenty-one near-road PM10 samples were classified as high road dust days and 34 as low road dust days. Concentrations of total trace elements and specific trace elements were significantly higher on high road dust days (aluminum, chromium, iron, lead, tin, vanadium, and zinc). High road dust days also had low relative humidity and precipitation and higher temperature and air pressure. We identified five clusters of near-road PM10 mixtures that suggested an interaction between temperature and humidity for road dust impacts. Samples from a near-road site indicated days highly affected by springtime road dust are distinct from other days based on particulate mixtures and meteorological factors. Higher loading of trace element mixtures in PM10 on high road dust days has important implications for acute toxicity of road dust. Relationships between road dust and weather may facilitate further research into health effects of road dust as the climate changes. Implications: Non-tailpipe emissions driven by springtime road dust in northern latitude communities is increasing in importance for air pollution control and improving our understanding of the health effects of chemical mixtures from particulate matter exposure. High-volume samples from a near-road site indicated that days affected by springtime road dust are substantively different from other days with respect to particulate matter mixture composition and meteorological drivers. The high load of trace elements in PM10 on high road dust days has important implications for the acute toxicity of inhaled air and subsequent health effects. The complex relationships between road dust and weather identified in this study may facilitate further research on the health effects of chemical mixtures related to road dust while also highlighting potential changes in this unique form of air pollution as the climate changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]