Dear Governor,

Wood Smoke is just as harmful as cigarette smoke, if not worse.

Please help us stop the spread of wood smoke in New York by declaring wood smoke a Public Nuisance. Many states are now banning wood stoves and other indoor and outdoor wood burning devices that negatively affect air quality. Connecticut is close to passing legislation that will declare wood smoke a Public Nuisance. We need to do the same so we can stop the constant introduction of wood smoke into our lives and lungs.

Wood smoke contains toxic particulate matter that is polluting our air, harming our environment and our health. Involuntary inhalation of wood smoke worsens asthma, threatens those suffering cardiac problems and diabetes, causing severe respiratory problems, even for the healthy. Children and the elderly are especially at risk. Wood smoke is linked to SIDS and premature death in the USA. Black carbon from wood smoke is now linked to climate change. Yet more and more people are turning to wood to heat their homes. We need to educate and raise awareness of the dangers of inhaling wood smoke, just as we do with cigarettes.

Doctors, scientists and state officials are beginning to realize that wood smoke is extremely harmful, remains in your body longer than cigarette smoke, and in most cases, it's not an individual's choice! We are at the mercy of "burners" whose uninvited wood smoke smolders and hovers, entering our homes through closed windows. Smokers have a choice. Non-smokers have no choice but to breathe the air around us, air that in many areas of New York is filled with poisons from wood stoves, fireplaces and outdoor wood boilers.

Stricter legislation must be written and enforced, to stop or at least control the amount of wood smoke spewed into the air.

When you think about it, cigarette smoke and wood smoke share a lot in common...poison!; why inhale ANY smoke into your lungs? We are telling our kids not to smoke cigarettes which have been banned in public places, yet wood burners are forcing our children to breathe wood smoke right in our own backyards!

Cigarette and wood smoke contain very similar, deadly toxins. Help us educate all residents of the hazards of wood smoke, and on economical alternatives to wood burning. They may be saving a life by not burning wood. You may be saving a life.

Wood smoke is a public nuisance that deprives residents of their right to good health, as well as the right to enjoy their property in peace and comfort, without the invasion of noxious wood smoke. If your neighbor were to idle a diesel truck 24/7 beside your house, they'd be immediately stopped and fined for polluting the air with choking emissions; exactly what wood smoke does. We need strict laws to protect human rights, wildlife and environment.

Everyone has the right to breathe clean, fresh, healthy air.

Thank you for your support and for taking the first steps necessary to make New York a Smoke Free state.