As if we needed any more reasons to worry about forest fires:

Scientists have discovered a new class of chemicals emitted from burning pine trees. From a family of compounds known for their ability to alter human DNA, the findings could change the way we look at the impact of forest fires on public health.

Alkaloids are commonly found in nature; plants produce them to help bolster the structure of leaves and pine needles, and they can be key nutrients to the right organisms. Many are prized for their beneficial effects on humans, while a select few, like morphine and caffeine are downright addictive.

But in high enough doses, alkaloids can be potent toxins.

It should be stressed here that this is really preliminary research, we’re a long ways from knowing how these alkaloids react in the environment and with people if at all.

The irony of the situation is that decades of suppressing all forest fires, naturally caused or not, have left many of the Western forests filled with brush and densely packed lodgepole pine that are the perfect fuel for fires. The current method of dealing with this situation is the use of controlled fires to clear the forests. That may have to change.

However, she (Researcher Julia Laskin) said the results suggest more alkaloids are produced in cooler, smoldering fires. These are typical of controlled burns that forestry officials often set to prevent much hotter, raging wildfires. If further work bears out this conclusion, it may be possible to alter controlled burns in a way that minimizes alkaloid production.

The more we study, the more we learn just how little we know about managing the natural environment, and how unexpected the results of our attempts to regulate natural processes can be.