Jakarta –
It turns out that forest fire ash not only leaves behind ecological damage, but also poses an invisible threat to human health. This threat was researched by researchers from Stanford University, United States.
Through a study published in the journal Nature Communication, on December 12 2023, professor at the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University, Scott Fendorf, revealed the presence of carcinogenic substances in the ash of California forest fires.
Researchers identified dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium (chromium 6) in ash samples taken from the Kincade and Hennessey fires in 2019 and 2020.
According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, manufacturing industry workers who are exposed to high levels of hexavalent chromium have a higher risk of lung cancer.
“Now this really changes my calculations. When we start getting wildfire warnings or smoke warnings, I will wear an N95 mask,” Fendorf said.
For your information, carcinogens are substances or compounds that can cause cancer in humans or animals.
Dangers that Threaten Health
Reported from the page NPRthis research also found that areas affected by chromium 6 concentrations reached seven times higher than unburned land.
Although the researchers only found hexavalent chromium in fire ash samples, not in forest fire smoke itself, it is likely that chromium 6 was also present in the smoke.
Fendorf said the team intends to collect forest fire smoke samples in the future to test that hypothesis.
However, these findings are very worrying considering that climate change is causing forest fires to become larger and more frequent throughout the world.
Communities in fire-prone areas will experience more fires, and fire smoke will spread hundreds to thousands of miles away.
According to Fendorf, people far from the fire location were also affected. Smoke from Canadian wildfires over the summer caused air quality to decline across America.
Ultrabasic and mafic areas affected by fires are found on all continents, except Antarctica
“Including tropical and temperate climates in the western United States, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Europe and Indonesia,” wrote the researchers
Therefore, these areas are likely to be natural sources of metals during fires.
Natural Metals that Turn into Toxins
Fendrorf explained that metals such as chromium can naturally be found in the environment, namely rocks such as serpentinite.
In this case, the intense heat of the forest fires appears to have converted the chromium to its hexavalent form.
“Fire converts harmless metals into highly toxic metal forms,” Fendrorf said.
Moreover, the relatively dry post-fire weather contributed to the high hexavalent chromium content in the surface layer of the soil up to ten months after the fire.
Hexavalent chromium is also known as “Erin Brockovich’s chemical” after a Californian legal advocate who was affected by the compound and immortalized in the famous film.
Fendorf and his colleagues said ash test sites in several California counties contain different types of geology and vegetation, so the researchers believe the results will be applicable to many areas around the world.
“Our findings provide new insight into why exposure to wildfire smoke appears to be more harmful to humans than pollution from other sources,” the researchers wrote.
The findings of this research also open the door to further investigation regarding the possible risk of exposure to other toxic metals from the impact of forest fires.
Watch the Video “Campfires for Making Coffee Allegedly Trigger Forest Fires in Argentina”
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2023-12-29 13:00:04
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