Is biomass the new asbestos?
Wood smoke is toxic. It’s more mutagenic than traffic exhaust and more carcinogenic than tobacco smoke. But biomass isn’t just hazardous when burnt. Repeated exposure to wood dust also greatly increases the risks of lung infections, asthma, dermatitis and cancers, including nasal cancer.
Wood pellets are portrayed as clean and clean burning. They are anything but. Their manufacture and processing results in a fine pervasive dust that lodges literally everywhere, including in peoples’ nasal passages and lungs.
Drax, the world’s largest biomass burning plant is facing 10 lawsuits after employees at its North Yorkshire plant were diagnosed with industrial asthma. One plaintiff’s laboured breathing meant he could only sleep seated upright in a chair.
Drax incinerated 7.3 million tonnes of wood pellets in 2024. Sourced largely from North America, these pellets are made by compressing wood dust under high pressure. After being shipped across the Atlantic, they are ground back into dust onsite and fed to Drax’s four 645MW biomass fired units.
The lawsuits allege that not only did the company fail to provide sufficient protection to employees but that it knew the risks.
Drax converted from burning coal to burning 100% wood in 2023 but began trialling biomass some twenty years earlier. According to company emails, officials were aware of the dangers associated with wood dust as early as 2011.
This is probably just the tip of the iceberg. It’s suspected other workers who have developed health complications may be reluctant to come forward for fear of compromising their jobs.
A further 700 people living near one of Drax’s wood pellet mills in Gloster, Mississippi are less inhibited. They have launched a class action lawsuit alleging that prolonged exposure to excessive chemicals and wood dust leaching from the mill has caused them to suffer a gamut of serious illnesses. The fact that the majority of inhabitants are low-income African Americans has raised allegations of environmental racism.
And here are some more eye-watering-and-opening statistics curtesy of Biofuelwatch:
- In 2023 Drax burnt almost 20x the total amount of wood pellets produced in the UK, making Drax the UK’s single largest CO2 emitter (over 13 million tonnes in 2024)
- Drax’s “sustainable” pellets are largely imported (67% from SE USA and a further 23% from Canada, including from trees sourced from biodiverse, old growth forests)
- In 2023 Drax received £869 million in subsidies (some £2 million a day) and is currently negotiating the renewal of its tax-payer funded subsidies for 2027-31 with the UK Government
- Since 2014 Drax has violated US Environmental regulations 11,378 times
The company insists that employee health is their “top priority” while continuing to deny the health risks associated with wood dust.
Exactly what asbestos companies once said about their “miracle fibre”.
Foto: Drax, Christopher Furlong/Getty Images – The Guardian
November 2025