My neighbors burn straight coal in their wood burners, my mom lives next door and has COPD. I bought my grandfathers house which he was born in, he died of lung cancer but didn't smoke cigarettes, three other men that grew up with my grandfather also died of the same kind of lung cancer.
I get migraines all winter while they burn coal, and I have had two grand mal seizures both at the end of winter after getting migraines all winter which start as soon as I go outside and try to breathe. We quit using heating oil because every time my heater would run it would suck in coal smoke, we switched to electric heaters so we don't have to smell it inside our home. I have two young children who have breathing issues all year long, constantly congested.