I live in the city of Minneapolis and have had asthma since I was 10 years old.  When I was young in the 50's and 60's, everyone in the city burned their trash and yard waste.  It caused a lot of air polution and I remember that I had lots of trouble in the fall when everyone burned their leaves.  I was so happy when they banned burning in the city!

Now that I am in my 50's and still live in Minneapolis, they have passed a new law that allows people to have ""recreational"" fires in their yards.  Some people think that this includes burining brush and leaves.  While the air polution from the smoke is a little better than when I was young, it is getting worse and worse every year as more and more people buy the cute little backyard fire pits.  I have had to quit gardening and riding my bike in the evenings when the weather is nice because too many people have fires going; my asthma flares up and I have to go inside.

I would love to see a reversal of the recreational file law.  People with COPD and children and adults with asthma all have difficulty breathing the polluted air.  With the increasing air polution from other sources, there is simply no need to add to it with fires that are not necessary.