How bad is wildfire smoke for your health? Here’s my view as a toxicologist | Christopher T Migliaccio

Last week New York and Detroit were listed among the five most polluted cities in the world because of smoke from Canada. What does that mean?

Last week, smoke from more than 100 wildfires burning across Canada rolled into North American cities far from the flames. New York City and Detroit were listed among the five most polluted cities in the world because of the fires on 7 June. The smoke has triggered air quality alerts in several states in recent weeks.

We asked Chris Migliaccio, a toxicologist at the University of Montana who studies the effect of wildfire smoke on human health, about the health risks people can face when smoke blows in from distant wildfires.

Christopher T Migliaccio is a research associate professor of toxicology at the University of Montana

This article is republished from the Conversation, a non-profit news organization dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts