This past week, a child stood on the observation deck of Toronto’s CN Tower and looked out at a city skyline blurred by haze.
Hundreds of miles away, National Guard troops patrolled a smoke-dimmed National Mall in Washington, and commuters pulled on masks.
Smoke drifting south from Canada’s wildfires has become an almost annual visitor to American skies. None of these scenes look that unusual these days.
What’s perhaps less familiar is how it’s impacting our health beneath the surface – inside hearts, lungs, brains, and even developing fetuses.
Wildfire smoke can deliver a cocktail of harmful air pollutants, including PM2.5, NO2, ozone, aromatic hydrocarbons, and lead.
