Can gas cooking affect your health and indoor air quality?

The issue of whether gas stoves can affect indoor air quality, and therefore the health of anyone using them, has been on the rise for some time.

A study published last year claimed that 12.7% of current childhood asthma cases in the US could be attributed to gas stove use.

While a 2022 study by PSE Energy concluded that kitchen stoves and other appliances regularly leak small amounts of unburned gas, even when turned off.

The latest study, which was published this week, suggests that household gas cooking appliances could be exposing millions of people in the UK to levels of indoor air pollution that breach national and international regulations.

The study by the non-profit energy efficiency group CLASP shows that cooking gas in home kitchens without ventilation emits levels of air pollution that exceed the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines.

And it has been estimated that indoor air pollution from cooking with gas is estimated to cost the UK around £1.4 billion a year in health care costs.

These include lower life expectancy, diseases, higher health care expenditure and lower productivity.

With cooking alone accounts for more than half (54%) of UK households cooking on gas, the report claims it accounts for around 2% of total UK carbon emissions.

The study has been backed by Professor Frank Kelly of Imperial College London, who said in a statement that removing gas cookers from our homes would “help create healthier living environments and reduce potential risks to public health”. .

A coalition of partner organizations including CLASP and the Global Action Plan have also called for new laws to set limits on pollution emissions from gas cooking appliances and to accelerate the transition to cleaner electric cooking.

Larissa Lockwood, director of clean air at the Global Action Plan, said many people are actually unaware of the health and environmental risks from cooking with gas, which are well-documented through decades of research.

Dr Ji Zhao, head of Delos Labs, said in an email that the use of gas stoves can pose a number of problems to human health and well-being.

He said cooking with gas stoves can generate harmful airborne pollutants that can affect both short-term and long-term health.

Additionally, these pollutants can remain in high concentrations in the air, especially without effective ventilation, he said.

“Gas stoves can generate carbon dioxide, which has been shown to affect cognitive performance, including reaction time and ability to concentrate,” he explained.

“While CO₂ While not necessarily harmful when exposed to concentrations less than 1,000 ppm, cooking with a gas stove over a long period of time without adequate ventilation can lead to an increase in CO₂ level.

Dr Zhao said cooking with gas stoves can also generate nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and prolonged exposure to these pollutants can have serious long-term health effects.

However, a peer-reviewed examination of existing research published in April concluded that there was not enough evidence to demonstrate a causal relationship between gas cooking and indoor air pollution.

The study was funded by the American Gas Association.

Karen Harbert, the association’s president and CEO, said it demonstrated that prior studies on natural gas cooking and nitrogen dioxide, and asthma and wheezing, were “highly variable and have quality flaws”.