We feel desperate

My husband suffers from occupational rhinitis as a result of teaching woodwork in school. Wood smoke is now also a real problem worsening the rhinitis and causing ear problems.

We have moved from a suburban village, as everyone seemed to be installing a wood burner, to the countryside. Although our nearest neighbour is a field away we still can smell wood smoke. People seem to be constantly having bonfires in the fields. We feel desperate, always trying to avoid wood smoke.

As a scientist I cannot believe that the majority of medical doctors seem totally ignorant of the dangers of wood smoke. How can it be recognised that tobacco smoke is bad but wood smoke is okay?

We recently went for a day out to a small Shropshire town and the wood smoke pollution was so bad we had to leave almost immediately. Fortunately we are only renting at present so can move on but we have no idea where to go to minimise our exposure to wood smoke.