Cooking with gas poses health risks, but new research shows the risks are not evenly distributed.
Scientists from Stanford University, Harvard University, and the Central California Asthma Collaborative have found that poor Americans and racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately exposed to harmful gas stove pollutants.
Previous studies have shown that gas stoves emit nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, pollutants that can cause respiratory illnesses, at levels deemed unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization. It is shown thatof new discovery in scientific progress They measured for the first time nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution from gas stoves across household type, race, income, and cooking habits, and calculated the cost of preventable cases of childhood asthma.
To conduct the study, the researchers combined federal indoor air quality models to build a model that estimates gas stove NO2 concentrations. Using field measurements collected from over 100 homes There are five U.S. states of varying sizes. They then applied that model to his 7,632 homes with gas, propane, and mixed-fuel stoves included in his 2020 Home Consumption Survey from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. After dividing these homes into 24 different groups based on floor plans ranging from studio to multi-bedroom homes, we estimated the intensity of NO2 exposure.
Researchers found that American Indian and Alaska Native households faced the most prolonged exposure to NO2, with levels 60% higher than the national average. Black, Hispanic, and Latino households follow, suffering 20% more exposure than average. According to the WHO, using stoves alone will expose these groups to unsafe amounts of NO2 pollution.
Households with an annual income of less than $10,000 are twice as exposed to gas stove pollution as households with an annual income of $150,000 or more, the study found. Disparities based on race and income are caused by differences in home size. However, the scientists noted that there may be other relevant factors not measured in the model, such as social differences in cooking behavior, ventilation, time spent indoors, etc.
Researchers also used established epidemiological relationships to find that gas and propane stoves contribute to as many as 19,000 adult deaths in the United States annually, as well as 200,000 childhood asthmatics and 1 billion deaths per year. It was estimated that this was a contributing factor to the social damage caused by the dollar.
„Most of us spend more than 90% of our time indoors,“ says Rob Jackson, professor of Earth system science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and principal investigator on the study. „We need to take responsibility and act to clean the air for people. It's the air that most people breathe, and we've been ignoring it for decades.“
Annie Carforo, climate justice campaign manager for the Manhattan-based environmental justice group WE ACT for Environmental Justice, said the findings are consistent with what the organization observed during its research. Stated. study The status of gas stove pollution in New York City public housing. He said people of color and low-income people are more likely to live in smaller, older apartments with poor ventilation, ineffective or broken range hoods, and older appliances that often leak gas. .
“This is a massive, cumulative injustice, which is why asthma rates are much higher in communities of color and low-income communities,” Carforo said. She added that her new research „gives us more leverage to push for interventions, programs and policies that reach low-income households first.“
The study authors said that removing gas and propane stoves is the best solution for individuals. If you can't afford to replace it right away, or if you're a renter and don't have that option, buy a portable induction burner, use an air filter, open a window when cooking, and use a range hood that circulates kitchen air outside. can. But he acknowledges that cost can be a barrier.
meanwhile tax credit Anti-inflation laws could help bring down the price of electric stoves, but researchers say stronger regulations are needed to ensure households switch to gas and keep it out of new buildings. He said that. Due to the ban on gas stoves, culture war However, in the United States.
“Our biggest problem is the political impracticality of the whole situation,” said Kevin D. Hamilton, a registered respiratory therapist and senior director of government affairs for the Central California Asthma Collaborative. „All we can do is hope that researchers provide as much hard data as possible to bring some health to the conversation.“