Cooking with gas poses a health risk, but new research shows the risk is not evenly distributed.
Poorer Americans and racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately exposed to harmful pollutants from gas stoves, scientists from Stanford University, Harvard University and the Central California Asthma Collaborative have found.
Previous studies have shown that gas stoves emit nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide — pollutants that can cause respiratory problems — at levels deemed dangerous by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Organization world health. THE new discoveries In Scientists progress are the first to measure nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution from gas stoves across household types, race, income and cooking habits, and then calculate the cost of preventable childhood asthma cases.
To conduct the study, researchers built a model to estimate NO2 concentrations in gas stoves, combining a federal indoor air quality model. with field measurements collected in over 100 homes of varying sizes in five American states. They then applied their model to 7,632 homes with gas, propane and mixed-fuel stoves included in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2020 Residential Consumption Survey. After dividing these homes into 24 distinct groups based on floor plans ranging from studios to multi-bedroom homes, they estimated the intensity of NO2 exposure.
Researchers found that American Indian and Alaska Native households have the most long-term exposure to NO2, at levels 60% higher than the national average. Black, Hispanic and Latino households follow, experiencing 20% higher exposure than average. Stoves alone expose each of these groups to more NO2 pollution than is safe, according to the WHO.
According to the study, households earning less than $10,000 a year are twice as exposed to pollution from gas stoves as households earning more than $150,000. Disparities based on race and income are due in part to differences in housing size. However, the scientists noted that there could be other relevant factors not measured in their model, including social differences in cooking behavior, ventilation and time spent indoors.
Using established epidemiological relationships, the researchers also estimated that gas and propane stoves contribute to 19,000 adult deaths in the United States each year, as well as 200,000 cases of childhood asthma and 1 billion dollars in societal damage.
“Most of us spend 90 percent of our time or more indoors,” said Rob Jackson, professor of Earth system science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and principal investigator of the study. “We need to take ownership and act to clean up people’s air, because it’s the air most people breathe and we’ve ignored it for decades. »
Annie Carforo, climate justice campaigns manager at the Manhattan-based group WE ACT for Environmental Justice, said the results are consistent with what the group observed in a survey. study pollution from gas stoves in New York City public housing. She said people of color and low-income people are more likely to live in smaller, older apartments that are poorly ventilated, with inefficient or broken range hoods and outdated appliances that leak more gas.
“This is a massive injustice that is compounding on its own, and it’s why we see much higher rates of asthma in communities of color and low-income communities,” said Carforo. She added that the new research “gives us more leverage to call for interventions, programs and policies that will reach low-income households first.”
The study authors say that eliminating gas and propane stoves is the best solution for individuals. Those who cannot afford an immediate replacement or do not have the option as a renter can purchase a portable induction burner, use an air filter, open windows when cooking, and use range hoods that do circulate air from the kitchen to the outside. But they also acknowledged that cost can be a barrier.
While tax credits In the Reduction of Inflation Act may help reduce the price of an electric stove, researchers said tougher regulations are needed to help households switch and prevent gas from entering new buildings. The ban on gas stoves fueled a culture war in the United States, however.
“Our biggest problem is the political unreality of the whole situation,” said Kevin D. Hamilton, a licensed respiratory therapist and senior director of government affairs at the Central California Asthma Collaborative. “All we can do is hope that researchers provide as much hard data as possible to bring some sanity to the conversation.”
