I call bullshit.
He doesn't quantify anything sensibly. Sure, maybe wood smoke is 30x more carcinogenic than cigarette smoke, but they are consumed very differently. Smokers stood out by getting the rare disease of lung cancer at a time when wood heating was quite common. Maybe it's comparable to living with a smoker, but he doesn't say. Sure, it's bad for you, but so is skiing. Is it worth it as recreation? Nothing he says addresses this. I would guess that the life expectancy cost from the dangers he mentions is less than the expected cost from the acute danger of messing up the flue, passing out from CO and dieing (something that nearly happened to my mother).
(When he talks about burning solid fuel in the developing world, does that include coal?)
Sadly, the paper it is based on seems to be behind a pay wall; but indeed, it seems to be about the properties of the properties of wood smoke and the potential problems it could cause -- rather than an investigation into actual health consequences.
So, until further notice, I'm filing this story under "Cocktail party factoids"...
EDIT: actually, it seems the paper mentioned is available online -- see RichardKennaway's comment. I'm reading it now - and notice the acute danger of confirmation bias to somehow not contradict my pre-EDIT comment... In...
Sam Harris, in his recent article called The Fireplace Delusion, tries to make you feel what it's like to react to a cached belief being irreparably destroyed. Just incase you forgot what your apostasy (if you had one, of course) was like in its early stages.
What are some of the Fireplace Delusions you've come across in your days?
EDIT: WOODSMOKE HEALTH EFFECTS