Wood-fired boilers a health hazard<

October of 2004 we had to shut our home up because the resident living next door installed an outdoor wood-fired boiler.

You can not imagine what it is like to have smoldering smoke coming at you 24/7 throughout the heating season.

Free use of your property is out of the question. You have to hurry in and out while holding your breath.

Incidentally, we are 275 feet away from this unit. We have headaches, sore throats and general sense of poor health due the operation of this unit.

LaPorte County, Indiana now has registered over 120 of these units with more units coming. The state has over 8,000. The U.S. EPA has not seen fit to regulate these units as they have with fireplaces and wood stoves.

Thank the patio and barbecue folks for twisting arms in Washington. You might note that the U.S. EPA states in its literature that "numerous scientific studies report potentially serious adverse health effects from breathing smoke emitted by residential wood combustion. Residential wood smoke contains fine particles (PM2.5) which can affect both the lungs and heart."

Does a brick have to fall on someone's head for our elected leaders in Washington to step forward and regulate this issue? I will support and defend anyone who burns cleanly and efficiently.

Jim Donnelly

LaPorte, Ind.