Cooking with gas poses health risks, but new research shows the risk is not evenly distributed.
Poor Americans and racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately exposed to harmful contaminants from gas stoves, scientists from Stanford University, Harvard University and the Asthma Collaborative of Central California found.
Previous studies have shown that gas stoves emit nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide — pollutants that can cause breathing problems — at levels considered unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization. new discoveries V Science achievements were the first to measure levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution in gas stoves by home type, race, income, and cooking habits, and then calculated the cost of preventable cases of childhood asthma.
To conduct the study, the researchers built a model to estimate NO2 concentrations in gas stoves that combined the federal indoor air quality model. with field measurements collected from over 100 homes of varying sizes in five US states. They then applied their model to 7,632 homes with gas, propane and mixed fuel furnaces included in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2020 Residential Consumption Survey. By dividing these homes into 24 separate groups based on floor plans, ranging from studios to multi-bedroom homes, they assessed the intensity of NO2 exposure.
The researchers found that American Indian and Alaska Native households face the longest exposure to NO2, with levels 60% higher than the national average. They are followed by black, Hispanic and Latino families, which suffer 20% higher rates of infection than average. According to the WHO, stoves alone expose each of these groups to more NO2 emissions than is safe.
The study found that households with incomes of less than $10,000 per year were twice as likely to be exposed to gas stove pollution compared to households with incomes of more than $150,000. Racial and income disparities are partly explained by differences in house sizes. However, the scientists noted that there may be other important factors not measured in their model, including social differences in cooking behavior, ventilation and time spent indoors.
Using established epidemiological links, the researchers also estimated that gas and propane furnaces are responsible for 19,000 deaths among adults in the United States each year, as well as 200,000 cases of asthma in children and cost society $1 billion.
“Most of us spend 90% of our time or more inside,” said Rob Jackson, professor of Earth system sciences at Stanford’s Dorr School of Sustainability and the study’s principal investigator. “We have to take responsibility and take action to clean up the air because this is the air most people breathe and we have ignored it for decades.”
Annie Carforo, climate justice campaigns manager for the Manhattan group WE ACT for Environmental Justice, said the findings were consistent with what the group observed during study contamination from gas stoves in New York City public housing. She said people of color and low-income people are more likely to live in small and older apartments with poor ventilation, inefficient or broken hoods and outdated appliances that leak more gas.
“It’s a huge inequity that compounds on itself, and that’s why you see much higher rates of asthma in communities of color and low-income communities,” Carforo said. She added that the new research “gives us more leverage to call for interventions, programs and policies that will primarily impact low-income households.”
The study authors said removing gas and propane stoves is the best solution for individuals. Those who can’t afford an immediate replacement or don’t have that option as renters can buy a portable induction burner, use an air filter, open windows while cooking, and use hoods that circulate kitchen air outdoors. But they also acknowledged that cost could be a barrier.
Bye tax benefits in the Reduce Inflation Act could help lower the price of an electric stove, researchers said stricter rules are needed to help households switch to gas and keep gas out of new buildings. Bans on gas stoves provoked culture war in the USA, really.
“Our biggest concern is the political unreality of the whole situation,” said Kevin D. Hamilton, a registered respiratory therapist and senior director of government relations for Asthma Alliance of Central California. “All we can do is hope that the researchers provide as much hard data as possible to bring some common sense to the conversation.”