Local doctor discusses long-term effects of wildfire smoke

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- You've probably noticed the Canadian wildfire smoke has returned to southeastern Wisconsin, and it's prompting another air quality advisory in our area.

On Monday, we spoke with Dr. Ben Weston, Milwaukee County's chief health policy advisor, about the risks of repeated exposure to things like wildfire smoke or ozone. While he told us those pollutants can be dangerous for people with pre-existing conditions, the frequency of air advisories we're seeing aren't enough to do lasting damage.

"Certainly, that's going to exacerbate conditions for a lot of folks," said Weston. "It's probably not long enough to cause substantial, noticeable, long-term lung damage to people who don't already have lung disease."

Weston says if the smoke were to stick around for months in a row, it still wouldn't cause long-term Issues for people with healthy lungs.

But it could cause permanent damage to people with lung conditions, and even make their issues worse.