Wood burning stoves and the harm done by inflating the risk of nuclear power | Letters

Anton van der Merwe on the relative risks of coal-fired power stations and nuclear ones, and Alan Robertshaw on the local fuel used in his stove

Your article on the harmful effects of burning wood (Eco' wood burners produce 450 times more pollution than gas heating - report, 8 December) highlights a broader problem with risk management in public health. Very different values are placed on human life, depending on the specific risk.

The level of air pollutants considered acceptable by the World Health Organization is already dangerous, increasing mortality by 2%. In contrast, the level of radioactivity considered acceptable is 100-500 times below levels that cause a similar increase in mortality. What this means is that a life lost to air pollution is valued 100- to 500-fold lower than a life lost to exposure to radioactivity.