Gas stoves are responsible for the premature deaths of 40,000 people each year in Europe (European Union and United Kingdom combined), warns a study led by the Jaume I University and the University of Valencia in Spain. “This number of deaths is twice as high as that linked to car accidents,” notes the British daily The Guardian.
The combustion of city gas during cooking results in the formation of harmful gases such asnitric oxide and the nitrogen dioxide (NOx)which can irritate the lungs. It also emits carbon monoxide a you formaldehydesubstances harmful to health that affect the systems respiratory et cardiovascular. However, for this study, only the effects of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) on health were taken into account, which leads the authors to say that their estimates are probably lower than reality.
Within the EU, one in three households uses gas for cooking. In Italy, Romania, Hungary and to The Netherlandsthese are even 60% of housing which are equipped with gas stoves, while at United Kingdom, 54% of households still cook with gas.
“From the point of view of public healththe gas cookers are toxic”, insists Juana Maria Delgado-Saborit, lead author of the study, asked by Bloomberg Green. The problem of premature deaths is “much worse than we thought”.
Cook safely: remember to open the windows
This work, which has not yet been peer reviewedwere financed by the European Climate Foundationa non-profit organization. They are part of a larger project on the “clean kitchen” organized by theEuropean Alliance for Public Health (EPHA). This study adds to growing evidence that gas cooking in homes increases indoor air pollution. harmful pollutantsposing a health hazard. In May, a study carried out in UNITED STATES had, for example, revealed that gas cookers could be responsible for 50,000 cases of asthma in children.
“The gradual abandonment of cooking gas is essential to advance the EU priorities in terms of promoting healthimproving the air quality and progressive elimination of fossil fuels”, writes theHERE in the press release announcing the results of this study.
Quoted by the GuardianEPHA's Sara Bertucci believes the dangers of gas stoves have been underestimated too long. “As for the cigarettespeople didn't really care about their health effects – and, like cigarettes, gas stoves slowly pollute our house”, she emphasizes.
While waiting to switch to electric hobs, households equipped with gas stoves should think about open the windows and to turn on the hood ventilation when they cook, advises Seth Shonkoffresearch associate at the University of California and executive director of PSE Healthy Energy, an independent research institute.
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