Gas stoves produce more indoor air pollutants than even some scientists expect. After taking measurements, many of these researchers are switching to electric stoves — and warning the public about the health risks of cooking with gas.
When Tara Kahan took pollution readings inside homes after cooking with a gas stove in 2017 and 2018, the University of Saskatchewan chemist and her colleagues were surprised by both how high the levels of nitrogen oxides were and how long they lasted.
“It really took a long time to go away,” said Kahan, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Environmental Analytical Chemistry. “All of the researchers were pretty horrified.”
University of Saskatchewan researcher Tara Kahan, right, stands beside the instruments she used to measure indoor air pollution from cooking and cleaning. (Tara Kahan)
Kahan immediately applied the new knowledge to her own life.
“After that, as soon as it was feasible, I switched from a gas stove to [electric] induction,” she said.
What he found pushed him to work on electrifying his home too.
His gas stove has an electric oven, but it doesn’t seem possible to swap out just the burners.
“I am reluctant to throw away a perfectly good electric oven,” he said. “But we’re going to do that.”
The combined health and climate impacts of stoves are also starting to catch the attention of celebrity chefs, such as John Horne, Angus An and John Kung, who have become evangelists for electric induction stoves in a field where gas stoves were once considered an essential tool for anyone serious about cooking.
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Health impacts of gas stoves
Dr. Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician and president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. The group ran an ad campaign last year highlighting the negative health impacts of natural gas, including those linked to:
“Most gas ranges in Canada do not even come close to meeting these air quality standards,” she said. “And research shows that this can harm your health, like worsening asthma … in kids” or exacerbate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults.
Lem added that nitrogen oxides aren’t the only pollutants released when cooking on gas stoves — others include formaldehyde, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide, which can be deadly.
I loved my gas stove, but two years ago I had the chance to move to induction. I took it & never looked back – and never will. Why not? Because gas stoves aren’t just bad for climate change, they’re bad for YOU. <a href=”https://t.co/wOtkIS4B7k”>https://t.co/wOtkIS4B7k</a>
The experts we talked to recommend replacing your gas stove with an electric one if you can. But if that’s not possible – for example, if you’re a renter or can’t afford a new stove — there are other things you can do to reduce your risk.
Use other cooking methods. Jackson has started using his microwave more, along with a portable countertop electric induction burner.
Ventilate while cooking. “Before this study, I never turned the hood on,” Jackson said, noting that studies show most people don’t because they’re noisy.
But he’s changed his habits after seeing the pollutant measurements. “Now I always turn the hood on, and I nag my friends and family to turn the ventilation hoods on when they use the gas stove, every time.”
Jackson cautioned that many hood fans don’t actually vent outside — they simply run air through a filter before dumping it back into the room. “And that is problematic because those filters do not scrub noxious gases.”
Kahan said hood fans can help, but they only cut pollutant levels in half.
She said other forms of ventilation, such as opening a window, are also a good idea when possible.
Use the back burners. More gases from the back burners are captured by your range hood fan compared to the front burners.
Researcher Eric Lebel attaches sensors to a stove to measure how often it is used in Stanford, Calif., in 2020, for a study he did with Professor Rob Jackson. The team found gas stoves are worse for the climate than previously thought because of constant tiny methane leaks. (Rob Jackson/The Associated Press)
What about other gas-burning appliances?
Jackson said that while other appliances such as furnaces, water heaters and fireplaces burn gas, most — unlike stoves — are required to be vented outside.
That said, there’s some evidence that furnaces can also cause nitrogen oxide pollution.
Michael Thomas, founder of Carbon Switch, a website focused on living sustainably, said he never worried much about having a gas stove, because it was only on for a short time each day. But while expecting his first child, he started reading about the pollutants generated by gas stoves. That prompted him to buy and install some indoor air quality monitors in his house. He reported the resultsin a blog post earlier this year.
Michael Thomas holds an air monitor that he used to measure the air quality in his home. He found that nitrogen oxide levels spiked when cooking with his gas stove, but were also high in the early morning when his furnace was running. (CBC News)
Sure enough, they showed that nitrogen dioxide spiked after cooking with his gas stove. That alarmed him.
But there were also spikes between midnight and 4 a.m.
Thomas soon realized that’s when his gas furnace was running to keep the home warm during cold nights.
“And so I realized that the gas furnace was actually leaking nitrogen dioxide into our home throughout all of the vents.”
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“My opinion is that we just shouldn’t be allowing these appliances to be installed in homes, given that they so often fail and end up ultimately creating a lot of unsafe indoor air pollution,” Thomas said.
He and his wife haven’t decided yet if they’re going to stay long-term in their Boulder, Colo.-home, but if they do, “then the plan would be to get an induction range and cooktop and then electrify all the space heating and water heating.”
How worried should I be? Should I get rid of my gas stove?
Jackson said he’s not sure how the indoor air pollution from gas stoves compares to other sources of pollution in people’s lives, such as those from highways, but it’s pollution that people don’t need to be exposed to.
“I think it makes sense to eliminate all sources of pollution in our lives that we can, especially if there’s another technology available that’s just as good and is much cleaner,” he said.
Vancouver Chef Angus An preps dishes on an electric induction cooktop, which many chefs are now touting as a superior alternative to gas stoves. (Angus An)
A bonus is that going electric also cuts greenhouse gas emissions. Not only did Jackson’s study find that gas stoves leak more methane than thought, but newer, more expensive stoves were no less leaky than older, cheaper ones. He suspects there’s no other way to fix the problem.
“I view electrification as a win for climate, but also a way to improve the air that we breathe — improve our health. And so I think it’s a good idea to do that, particularly if you’re a family with young children in your home.”
Thomas acknowledged this isn’t an option for everyone, but suggested thinking about it especially if you are considering getting a new stove or building a new home.
In fact, his advice is to electrify if you’re replacing any gas appliances, whether it’s your furnace, water heater or stove.
“If you have the choice, then I think putting in a gas stove is crazy at this point, given all the research on the health impacts and the methane leaks.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
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