Intro: It’s Summer in the North Country … sunny days warm the soil, flowers bloom, the garden is beginning to green, birds are singing, the air is filled with the scent … of … of … burning trash!? Yup, the acrid pungent smoke from burn barrels is a common smell in rural areas.

Commentary: If you live in the country you’re probably familiar with this practice of burning household waste in old rusty 55 gallon drums in the back yard. 1, 2 People who live in more urban areas are often amazed this practice still exists. One more case of the big gulf between rural life and city life.

But burn barrels, in a nasty way, are bridging this gap. In the last five years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has done studies that link backyard burning to dioxin contamination of the American food supply. The EPA found that burn barrels produce enormous amounts of dioxin, the same ultra-toxic chemical which contaminated Agent Orange and forced the abandonment of Love Canal. 3, 4, 5, 6 The EPA says that backyard burn barrels may soon become the largest single source of this poison in the U.S. 7, 8, 9, 10 Dioxin from burn barrel smoke settles onto pasture land or feed crops which are then eaten by cows which then concentrate the dioxin into their milk and meat. Average Americans, through food, are expected to get enough dioxin to significantly increase their risk of cancer.11 So, even if you live in the city, far from any burn barrels, your food is contaminated with dioxin.

Not exactly the kind of city-country link most of us want to hear about.

But if you live near a burn barrel, you’ve got more immediate health risks. New York Department of Health’s Dr. James Melius says the chemicals in the smoke from a burn barrel

"… may significantly impact the health of nearby residents. Elderly people with respiratory or heart disease, asthmatics, and young children are more susceptible … smoke from this type of burning can significantly aggravate asthma or emphysema leading to serious acute medical problems."12

Other reported health effects include allergies, rashes, headaches, digestive problems, and neurological problems. 13, 14

There is an opportunity to clear the air statewide. The New York State Senate is considering whether to take up a law banning open burning of trash.15 If Senators hear from enough voters they may finally decide to include New York with all the other Northeast states which already ban open burning: Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Maine.16

Existing New York laws have been hard to enforce. For now, you can try asking a neighbor to stop burning or you can report offenders to the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Of course, it will take more than laws to convince people to stop burning trash. Local governments will have to fix the solid waste systems which have become less and less convenient. In St. Lawrence County, there used to be over 30 places to bring trash and recyclables. Now there are only three, and they are not free.

I believe we can solve the problem of open waste burning. I’ve met dozens of people, from farmers to teachers, from politicians to civil servants, from newspaper editors to restaurant owners, all working to clean the air and our food.

I hope those of you who do burn your trash will reconsider … for the sake of your own health and the health of your families.

Maybe we county folk can show those city people a thing or two about resourcefulness, ingenuity, and co-operative spirit … by working together to quench the smoke and flames and the health impacts of the rural burn barrels.

For more information, visit the website burnbarrel.org. To report illegal open burning contact the NY DEC at 1-800-TIPP DEC. 17, 18

Chris Neurath is a member of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy work group on dioxins and burn barrels. He is part of a New York State coalition working on backyard burning. Locally he is a member of the St. Lawrence County Ad Hoc Committee on Education Regarding Open Burning.

1
St. Lawrence County Planning Office, Feb. 5, 1993, "Legal open burning and on-premises burial of solid waste in St. Lawrence County, NY: the environmental impacts".
2
Wisconsin / Minnesota survey 2000 available at http://www.c2p2online.com/main.php3?session=&section=137&doc_id=283
3
EPA 1997, 1998 study, available at c2p2 website above.
4
EPA 1999 report in Environmental Science & Technology, available at c2p2 website above.
5
EPA 2000 study available at c2p2 website above.
6
ENN news article Jan. 10, 2000 at http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/01/01102000/burnbarrel_8885.asp
7
WAMC Environment Show, May 2001, statement of Dwain Winters of EPA
8
EPA graph on web page showing sources of dioxin http://www.epa.gov/ncea/dioxindb.htm
9
GLBTS burn barrel subgroup of dioxin work group, May 17, 2001; Strategy/Implementation Plan for Reducing the Prevalence of Household Trash Burning (Barrel Burning) in Rural Areas of the Great Lakes, p. 1, available at c2p2 website above.
10
Environmental News Network article http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/01/01102000/burnbarrel_8885.asp quote: "Open burning of household waste in barrels is potentially one of the largest sources of airborne dioxin and furan emissions in the United States," said Environmental Protection Agency scientist Paul Lemieux.
11
EPA dioxin reassessment, Sept. 10, 2000, Part III "estimate of approximately 1 x 10 -3 per pg TCDD/kgBW/day. This represents EPA’s most current upper bound slope factor for estimating human cancer risk based on human data." In other words, the average American has 1 in 1000 risk of developing cancer because of dioxin exposure. Individuals who eat a high fat diet may have as much as 1 in 100 risk. Document available at p. 89 of http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/dioxreass.cfm?ActType=default
12
St. Lawrence County, 1993, cited above, p. 7.
13
NY Leg. Commission on Solid Waste brochure on Work On Waste website; http://workonwaste.org/burn.htm
14
NY Attorney General / American Lung Association, Feb. 2001, brochure on AG web site http://www.oag.state.ny.us/search?NS-search-page=document&NS-rel-doc-name=/press/2001/feb/feb14b_01.html&NS-query=burn+barrel&NS-search-type=NS-literaltext-query&NS-collection=OAG_Documents&NS-docs-matched=3&NS-doc-number=1
15
NY Assembly web site, http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S03772&sh=t also, you can search for bill S3772A on the NY Senate website which includes more information about the bill http://www.senate.state.ny.us/
16
These states all have laws that effectively ban all open trash burning. Maine and New Hampshire have adopted theirs in the past year, while the others have had laws on the books for many years.
17
DEC web site has regulations Part 211 http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/regs/211.htm and Part 215 http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/regs/215.htm which apply to open burning. The provisions of Part 215 prohibit most types of open burning in most areas of the state. The major exception is in rural areas for many types of non-food preparation wastes. Part 211 is rather vague and has been difficult to enforce.

§211.2 Air pollution prohibited. No person shall cause or allow emissions of air contaminants to the outdoor atmosphere of such quantity, characteristic or duration which are injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property, or which unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.
§215.2 Prohibitions. Except as permitted by section 215.3 of this Part, no person shall burn, cause, suffer, allow or permit the burning in an open fire:
(a) of garbage;
(d) for onsite disposal, of rubbish generated by residential activities in any city or village; or in any town with a total town population, including incorporated or unincorporated areas, of greater than 20,000;
§ 215.1 Definitions.
(a) Garbage. The animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and serving of food.
(e) Rubbish. Solid or liquid waste material, including but not limited to, paper and paper products; rags; trees or leaves, needles, and branches therefrom; vines; lawn and garden debris; furniture; cans; crockery; plastics; cartons; chemicals; paint; grease; sludges; oils and other petroleum products; wood; sawdust, demolition materials; tires; and automobiles and other vehicles and parts, for junk, salvage or disposal. Rubbish shall not include garbage, incinerator residue, street sweepings, dead animals or offal.

Also see St. Lawrence County Planning Office, 2001, report to county Legislature on local open burning laws in NY.
18
This hotline "is available 24 hours a day to report Environmental Conservation Law violations. It's toll free and confidential." http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dle/tippinfo.htm