{"id":29414,"date":"2013-07-03T15:21:35","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T20:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=29414"},"modified":"2013-07-04T12:40:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T17:40:02","slug":"how-backyard-grilling-can-increase-air-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/07\/03\/how-backyard-grilling-can-increase-air-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Backyard Grilling Increases Air Pollution, But Can Texans Live Without It?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_29416\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-29416\" alt=\"Harvey Gebhard, CEO of the Lone Star Barbeque Society\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/07\/IMG_2128-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/07\/IMG_2128-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/07\/IMG_2128-620x465.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Mose Buchele<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Harvey Gebhard, CEO of the Lone Star Barbecue Society<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Listen to Harvey Gebhard talk about grilling and you can almost smell the smoke. Gebhard is the CEO of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lonestarbarbecue.com\/\">Lone Star Barbecue Society<\/a>, a\u00a0group that organizes charity cook-offs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet the smoke going, and stand over it and let the smoke get in your eyes,\u201d he advised me in a recent interview. \u201c[Your eyes] get to watering, and your nose gets to running, and all your friends come around. \u2018Hey man, what are you cooking!? Hey man, when&#8217;s it gonna be ready!?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a Texas thing, man!\u201d He concluded, almost lost in revery.<\/p>\n<p>As you can tell, the appeal of grilling isn\u2019t all about the food for Gebhard. It\u2019s about the smoke.\u00a0 For him, recent research from The University of California, Davis is about as unwelcome as rain on the Fourth of July. The<a href=\"http:\/\/www.arb.ca.gov\/research\/apr\/past\/06-331.pdf\"> study<\/a> highlights the danger of smoke from outdoor grilling to public health.<\/p>\n<p>But that wasn\u2019t the original intent of the study.<br \/>\n<!--more-->\u201cWe were interested in the general question of what are the sources of particles in the atmosphere that are toxic,\u201d <a style=\"font-size: 13.63636302947998px;\" href=\"http:\/\/mae.ucdavis.edu\/wexler\/\">Anthony Wexler<\/a>, director of the <a style=\"font-size: 13.63636302947998px;\" href=\"http:\/\/airquality.ucdavis.edu\/\">Air Quality Research Center<\/a> at UC Davis explained.<\/p>\n<p>Wexler and his colleague collected particles from the air around Fresno, California, a city with severe air pollution. They exposed those particles to mice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were surprised. It was the summer residential cooking that was highly toxic,\u201d said Wexler. He suggests that backyard grilling was to blame for the some of the most toxic particles. But only a certain type of grilling. \u201cThe difference is the [grilling]. It&#8217;s the people using the charcoal briquettes that create a lot of smoke that people are inhaling and then appears to be toxic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F99682663\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just dangerous for people standing right over the fire. The study suggests that the cumulative effect of all those grills have a negative health impact throughout an entire community. The test didn\u2019t include Texas style meat-smoking, but Wexler imagines it has the same impact.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, he says, when it comes to cooking meats and vegies, there\u2019s an easy fix.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, there are some [poeple] who you can simply encourage to switch to propane,\u201d he said \u201cThat would be a big help and that wouldn\u2019t necessarily be a big burden on them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I relayed the message to Harvey Gebhard of the Barbecue Society. It didn&#8217;t go over too well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019d really say to him,\u201d Gebhard responded. \u201cI mean, hey, man. You\u2019re in Texas. I don\u2019t know where you came from, but you might want to go back. Cause this is what we do in Texas. We barbecue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One of the rules of Barbecue Society cook-offs is that participants have to cook with wood or charcoal. Gebhard points out that it\u2019s not like grilling is an inherently healthy pursuit in the first place. The charred meat is carcinogenic. And the meals aren\u2019t always good for the waistline. The day I interviewed Gebhard, he regaled me with tales of a pork rind casserole with bacon and cheese he\u2019d tried at a recent cook off.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Stoped up the arteries, but it was good!&#8221; he said with a smile.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29417\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Kindred McClure and Elizabeth Reyes grill in Austin.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/07\/IMG_2246.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-29417\" alt=\"Kindred McClure and Elizabeth Reyes grill in Austin.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/07\/IMG_2246-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/07\/IMG_2246-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/07\/IMG_2246-620x465.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Mose Buchele<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kindred McClure and Elizabeth Reyes grill in Austin.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s probably no surprise that a grilling purist like Gebhard would reject the study. So I headed down to a local park to get more opinions. It was Monday evening, but, this being Austin, it didn\u2019t take long before I ran into Kindred McClure and his fiancee Elizabeth Reyes. They were preparing some carne asada over coals.<\/p>\n<p>McClure and Reyes were quick to point out that other things they do may contribute more air pollution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, I drive my car,\u201d Reyes said, laughing.<\/p>\n<p>Gas powered lawnmowers, air conditioning, and fireworks displays also contribute to air pollution. When it comes to grilling, Reyes and McClure say they don\u2019t want to give up their charcoal, but they\u2019re open to diversifying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we go camping, we use a little propane grill. It\u2019s good,\u201d offered McClure.<\/p>\n<p>And it turns out even Gebhard uses a propane grill at home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if that pollutes anything or not. I guess it\u2019s a cleaner burning fuel than wood,\u201d he conceded.<\/p>\n<p>Study co-author Anthony Wexler says he\u2019s not advocating \u201csome draconian thing.\u201d He just wants to give air quality regulators the tools to protect people\u2019s health. That simply mean discouraging charcoal grilling when there\u2019s no wind to blow away the toxins. After all, Wexler himself, enjoys a bit of smoke from time to time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I have been in Texas, I have eaten smoked meat and brisket because I love that stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>And he plans to eat more of it next time he\u2019s in Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to Harvey Gebhard talk about grilling and you can almost smell the smoke. Gebhard is the CEO of the Lone Star Barbecue Society, a\u00a0group that organizes charity cook-offs. \u201cGet the smoke going, and stand over it and let the smoke get in your eyes,\u201d he advised me in a recent interview. \u201c[Your eyes] get [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29414"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29516,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29414\/revisions\/29516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}