Study: Gas stove emissions kill 40,000 Europeans each year

Why do we keep burning fossil fuels inside our houses when we don't have to anymore?

You can pry my gas lighting from my cold dead hands! Oh wait, technology has changed….

A new European study finds “the presence of gas cookers at home and exposure to NO2 from gas cooking appliances produces far more health impacts in the European population than previously thought, including premature deaths and asthma in the overall population.”

Six months ago, I wrote about an American study which found “the long-term exposure to NO₂ in American households with gas stoves is high enough to cause thousands of deaths each year – possibly as many as 19,000 or 40% of the number of deaths linked annually to secondhand smoke.”

The new study, "Assessment of the health impacts and costs associated with indoor nitrogen dioxide exposure related to gas cooking in the European Union and the United Kingdom," from Jaume I University and the University of Valencia, is even more dire, as the proportion of Europeans who cook with gas is far higher than in North America.

“Approximately 36,000 premature deaths and 61,000 YLL [Years of Life Lost] associated with exposure to NO2 emitted during gas cooking are estimated in the EU. When data from UK and EU are combined, there are 40,000 premature deaths and 77,000 YLL. The countries with the highest burden were Italy, Poland, Romania, France and the UK. The estimated cost of premature deaths related to gas cooking in the EU and UK combined is 160 billion (EU is 143 billion) euros, with Italy incurring the highest cost (54 billion euros) as a single country.”

It all works out to gas stoves shortening life spans by nearly two years. Also, we often see studies that just list death rates, but counting the YLLs and the DALYs (Disability-Adjusted Life Years, a unit that represents the loss of one year of full health) is significant; gas stoves cause disability as well as death. We’ve got asthma, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) related to cooking with gas; Exposure to Nitrogen Dioxide is linked to cardiovascular and respiratory mortality and “NO2 exposure has also been associated with increased risk of lung cancer mortality.”

Defenders of gas often suggest that an exhaust hood solves the problem, but the study says no; it quotes other research which found “households with cooker hoods (both recirculating and vented to the exterior) saw no substantial reduction in cooking-related indoor air pollution. As pointed out by Jacobs et al (2023), these results show that relying on individuals to ventilate their homes is not enough to mitigate the health risks from gas hobs and ovens.”

The study concludes:

“Presence of gas cookers at home and exposure to NO2 from gas cooking appliances produces far more health impacts in the European population than previously thought, including premature deaths and asthma in the overall population. Policymakers should develop policies that would help the population to reduce their exposure to the harmful emissions associated with gas cooking. Consumers should consider other cleaner alternatives for cooking, budget permitting, which could be incentivized by the government using tax rebates or subsidies to promote the change.”

Sara Bertucci of the European Public Health Alliance tells the Guardian:

“For too long it has been easy to dismiss the dangers of gas cookers. Like cigarettes, people didn’t think much of the health impacts – and, like cigarettes, gas cookers are a little fire that fills our home with pollution.”

In North America, gas stoves are part of a culture war funded in part by the fossil fuel industry, like Enbridge Gas in Canada. Few subjects attract more comments and controversy. I don’t understand why; it is as if someone was defending gas lighting like we had 150 years ago instead of electric bulbs. I don’t see people screaming for the freedom to have gas lighting in their homes; it was replaced with better, safer, cleaner technology.

With stoves as well, technology has changed; induction ranges cook faster with more control and comfort. Some of them even have batteries now, so rewiring isn’t necessary. We don’t need to cook with 150-year-old technology and breathe all these pollutants any more. What are people thinking?

All those premature deaths and years of life lost from Nitrogen Dioxide. Benzine. Particulates. Carbon Monoxide. I find it hard to believe in this day and age that people think cooking over an open flame inside their home is a good idea. Perhaps this latest research might help convince a few more of them that two extra years of healthy living is nice, too.

Previously in Carbon Upfront!:

Why is the Ontario government so in love with natural gas? And why is Enbridge Gas trying to incite a culture war?

New research shows that gas stoves emit unsafe levels of nitrogen dioxide. "The long-term exposure to NO2 in American households with gas stoves is high enough to cause thousands of deaths each year."

The gas stove freakout is ridiculous but unsurprising. Men have been doing this for centuries.

Piles of peer reviewed research show how bad cooking with gas is for your health. A bonus from the archives looking at previous research on the dangers of gas stoves.