A new study of air pollution in U.S. homes reveals how much gas and propane stoves increase people’s exposure to nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant linke

People with gas and propane stoves breathe more unhealthy nitrogen dioxide

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2024-05-04 00:30:07

A new study of air pollution in U.S. homes reveals how much gas and propane stoves increase people’s exposure to nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant linked to childhood asthma. Even in bedrooms far from kitchens, concentrations frequently exceed health limits while stoves are on and for hours after burners and ovens are turned off.

Stanford PhD student Metta Nicholson observes a gas burner in a home where scientists measured air pollution as part of their data collection in California, Texas, Colorado, New York, and Washington, D.C. (Image credit: Rob Jackson, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability)

Households with gas or propane stoves regularly breathe unhealthy levels of nitrogen dioxide, a study of air pollution in U.S. homes found.

“I didn’t expect to see pollutant concentrations breach health benchmarks in bedrooms within an hour of gas stove use, and stay there for hours after the stove is turned off,” said Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Professor Rob Jackson, senior author of the May 3 study in Science Advances. Pollution from gas and propane stoves isn’t just an issue for cooks or people in the kitchen, he said. “It’s the whole family’s problem.”

Among other negative health effects, breathing high levels of nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, over time can intensify asthma attacks and has been linked to decreased lung development in children and early deaths.