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Gas stoves: 40,000 annual deaths and hundreds of thousands cases of childhood asthma suspected

Gas stoves: Pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide can damage health (Image source: Dall-e / AI)
Gas stoves: Pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide can damage health (Image source: Dall-e / AI)
Gas stoves are linked to 40,000 deaths a year in Europe alone - and tens of thousands more each year in the US. Similar to smoking cigarettes, the health risk of cooking with gas is significantly underestimated. A new study reveals worrying figures, including serious illnesses in children.

According to a recent study, gas stoves are linked to around 40,000 premature deaths each year, although the number of cases that go unreported could be much higher. The issue is not the risk of explosion, but rather the health effects of exposure to pollutants from indoor gas cooking.

The research, carried out at the Jaume I University in Spain, covers EU countries and the UK. Of particular concern is the number of cases of childhood asthma, which runs into the hundreds of thousands. It is estimated that around a third of all households in Europe use a gas stove for cooking. The emissions of pollutants such as particulate matter and the corrosive irritant gas nitrogen dioxide, which are produced during combustion, are problematic for health.  

Life expectancy reduced by an average of two years

It is estimated that this pollution can reduce life expectancy by an average of two years, for example through premature heart and lung disease. Furthermore, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide contribute to climate change, which is why New York, for example, will ban gas stoves in new buildings from 2024.

Despite this, gas stoves are still very popular - in Austria, around one in four households has a gas cooker, while in other countries such as the UK, Romania, Poland and Italy, the proportion of gas stoves is well over 50 percent. There are many reasons for this. In regions with frequent power cuts, or for people with a self-sufficient lifestyle, cooking with gas increases independence from local grid operators. Cooking with gas is also easy, fast and, depending on the region in Europe, cheaper.

The study was funded by the non-profit European Climate Foundation and organised by the European Public Health Alliance. However, a separate study carried out in May 2023 found that more than 12 % of all childhood asthma cases in the US were due to cooking with gas stoves.

Danger of gas stoves is underestimated - like cigarettes in the past

Juana Maria Delgado-Saborit, lead author of the study, therefore recommends ventilation and, if possible, replacing gas cookers with electric ones. She also believes that the number of deaths is likely to be underestimated, as the study did not take into account several other harmful substances released during gas cooking. Sara Bertucci of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) even compares the dangers of gas cookers to cigarettes:

For too long it has been easy to dismiss the dangers of gas cookers. Like cigarettes, people didn’t think much of the health impacts – and, like cigarettes, gas cookers are a little fire that fills our home with pollution.

Source(s)

The Guardian | Bloomberg | Der Standard | Image source: Dall-e / AI

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2024 11 > Gas stoves: 40,000 annual deaths and hundreds of thousands cases of childhood asthma suspected
Nicole Dominikowski, 2024-11-24 (Update: 2024-11-24)