I can buy some of that. Burn pits in active war zones are a known source of cancer, half being in a constant vicinity of something burning and the other half being the properties of the aerosols produced by the thing being burned. That's to say, if the wood is treated it'll be more dangerous than seasoned wood.

When a family member was diagnosed with cancer I was warned heavily about the difference between cooked meat and charred meat. Charring is linked to cancer where cooked meat is a bit more up in the air.

But is it the charred meat then or the charring process that causes cancer?

It's the acrylamide: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide

That's not really conclusive about anything as not all studies are done in South America..

Looking into pork for example, it is recommended as an alternative because it seems to have a lower incidence of many cancer types in studies and it's a great meat to smoke.

interesting.

Teochew people eat a lot of (from my anecdotal experience) and we don't have the same culture of charcoal burning our meat. I wonder whether a similar comparison could work for South East vs other parts of the Chinese diaspora...

I avoid grilled and smoked meat because it seems very obvious to me that infusing meat with carcinogens would be bad for you. I’ve read that colon cancer is elevated in youth and I have a hunch that the widespread grilling and smoking culture has played a part.