Gary Kuyava has been using his wood burning stove for the past 34 years to heat his workshop.

"It allows me to work out here in the winter time. I can get it pretty warm," says Kuyava.

Gary says he's never felt any adverse health effects from the smoke in his shop... but pollution control officials are warning people that wood burning can be hazardous.

"People that use wood stoves or fireplaces on a regular basis have the same amount of air pollution exposure indoors as if there were a cigarette smoker in the house," Bob Beresford with the MN Pollution Control Agency.

Experts say fine particulate matter from wood smoke can cause asthma, emphysema, or bronchitis.

"That is inhaled deep down into the lungs and a lot of that fine particulate matter can cross right over into the blood stream," says Beresford.

Proponents of wood burning say it can be more environmentally friendly than natural gas if used properly.

"New EPA appliances are very very clean burning and so the smoke that goes into the air has very low particulates in it," says EnergyPlus owner John Bergstrom.

The Minnesota Pollution Control agency disagrees... saying even though the newer, Environmental Protection Agency approved appliances emit less particulate matter than older models, they can still be harmful.

"Even the cleaner EPA certified stoves still emit up to 100 times the particulate matter that oil and gas burners do," says Beresford.

If you do choose to burn wood in your home, officials recommend you don't overload your firebox and make sure you burn clean and dry wood.

The P–C–A also suggests that people avoid the use of outdoor boilers.
Since the boilers burn large quantities of wood at a time, they emit a much larger quantity of particulate matter than a wood burning stove or fireplace.