BBQ smoke

[PurpleCurtain]

BBQ smoke - is it safe? I guess reasonably given the number of pregnant women I've been to BBQs with in the past!

Not sure if my nose is just over sensitive at the moment / I'm just unlucky, but every walk we've been on over the last few days seems to have involved needing to walk through a thick billow of BBQ / garden smoke - which got my friend unhelpfully pointing out that there is advice about avoiding tobacco smoke in pregnancy so why not other kinds!

Hoping you'll all say this is nothing to worry about / that you've all had a face full of BBQ smoke in your pregnancies / that I'm more susceptible to smell at the moment!

Where do you live? A city?

PFB?

I'm genuinely interested in why cigarette smoke is bad and bbq or other smoke isn't, now it's been pointed out - still PM and VOCs released in both cases - and whether this is something others have come across. Yep, I'm sure it's about level of exposure (and why I don't worry about walking past a smoker etc) but it does seem strange as I didn't think it was the nicotine specifically that was the risk?

I live in the outer suburbs so generally feel like there is clean-ish air where I'm walking! I don't recall it being this bad in previous years but maybe that's A) people having been stuck inside/ at home and B) an increased sense of smell on my part!

BBQ smoke is a form of pollution but it’s just something people are less aware is a problem, like wood burner smoke too. For so long we’ve all known about cigarette smoke being bad but these other kinds of pollution aren’t great either. Plenty of articles and research about it online. I’ve got asthma so do my best to avoid any form of pollution but I live in a city so easier said than done and I just have to accept the risk! And like you say level of exposure is a big factor. This article highlights that pollution can affect the unborn baby: www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/21/asthma-in-toddlers-linked-to-in-utero-exposure-to-air-pollution-ufps-study-finds