Residents near Maui wildfires show elevated metals linked to impacted lung health, study says

A new study finds that metal mixtures found in smoke, ash and debris after the 2023 Maui wildfires affected human lung health Metal mixtures found in the leftover smoke, ash and debris from the deadly 2023 Maui wildfires were harmful to the lung health of people living nearby long after the burning ended, a new study says. The work shows that major wildfires, which are worsening with the planet’s warming, could have lasting effects beyond immediate exposure.

Post-wildfire air quality needs to be monitored longer term, the research suggests, and recovery efforts need to consider what might remain in contaminated soot, residue and dirt well after burning stops. The wildfires, caused by wind spreading a brushfire spurred by downed power lines, burned on the Hawaiian island of Maui in August 2023, destroyed the town of Lahaina and killed more than 100 people. They were among the deadliest in U.S.

New research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday found higher metal levels, associated with respiratory harm, in nearby residents up to a year and a half after the fires. University of Hawaii researchers studied the urine of 1,400 adults and found substantially elevated concentrations of metals such as arsenic, cadmium, copper and antimony. Burned buildings, cars and electronics can release harmful chemicals These metals could be the result of burned buildings, vehicles, electronics and other materials lost in the wildfires, the researchers say.

They can cause a different human impact than simply the burned vegetation that is typically studied after fires of this magnitude. “What we’re dealing with, especially in the aftermath of what we experienced in Lahaina, is a much more complicated mixture of these chemical exposures,” said Alika Maunakea, the study’s co-author and an anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology professor at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. The researchers found antimony nearly 40 times higher in the Maui participants than U.S.

They found manganese 3.8 times higher, barium 2.3 times and arsenic 2.2 times. Having more metals in the body was more likely to result in abnormal lung function, such as having less breathing capacity and difficulty moving air in and out of one’s lungs, during standard breathing tests, the study found. Those lung effects aligned with the geographic distribution of smoke and ash; those nearest to Lahaina, and Wailuku and Kahului, experienced a different impact than in those near…

history.New research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday found higher metal levels, associated with respiratory harm, in nearby residents up to a year and a half after the fires.University of Hawaii researchers studied the urine of 1,400 adults and found substantially elevated concentrations of metals such as arsenic, cadmium, copper and antimony.Burned buildings, cars and electronics can release harmful chemicalsThese metals could be the result of burned buildings, vehicles, electronics and other materials lost in the wildfires, the researchers say.