Researchers set out to try and answer this question.
Not much research has been carried out in forestry to try and quantify these health risks. Hardwood saw dust has even been classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Researchers in Italy set about to trying to shed more information on this topic. Chainsaw operators working in coppiced trees, sanitary felling of dead and dying trees, and pruning operations were investigated.
The results showed that traces of carcinogenic substances found in the emissions were well below legal limits for all operations. Alkalyte petrols had much lower amounts of harmful substances than normal two-stroke fuel mix. The values of wood dust were also well below legal limits for 98% of cases. These results show that forestry workers are exposed to low levels of risk. Because very few comparable studies have been carried out, further research would be required to test other conditions. The report was titled “Exposure of operators to wood dust and exhaust gases of chain saws during forestry operations”. The scientists responsible for the research were E Marchi, L Miligi, R Spinelli and G Sciarra. The report can be downloaded from http://www.usl7.toscana.it/labsp/attachments/article/16/Wood-cutting-with-chainsaw-and-wood-chipping.pdf