Science Advances report also finds people of color and low-income residents in US disproportionately affected

Using a gas stove increases nitrogen dioxide exposure to levels that exceed public health recommendations, a new study shows. The report, published Friday in Science Advances, found that people of color and low-income residents in the US were disproportionately affected.

Indoor gas and propane appliances raise average concentrations of the harmful pollutant, also known as NO2, to 75% of the World Health Organization’s standard for indoor and outdoor exposure.

That means even if a person avoids exposure to nitrogen dioxide from traffic exhaust, power plants, or other sources, by cooking with a gas stove they will have already breathed in three-quarters of what is considered a safe limit.

When you’re using a gas stove, you are burning fossil fuel directly in the home,” said Yannai Kashtan, lead author of the study and a PhD candidate at Stanford University. “Ventilation does help but it’s an imperfect solution and ultimately the best way is to reduce pollution at the source.”

  • Hildegarde
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    fedilink
    -38 months ago

    Sounds like the solution is to increase the cost of gas until it costs more than 5 figures to continue using it.

      • Hildegarde
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        fedilink
        -18 months ago

        With governments refusing to take action to wean society off of fossil fuels, screwing poor people is an inevitability. The stuff is finite, eventually it runs out and the prices become unaffordable before the end.