Indoor pollution from an incredibly common appliance sends 4,000 people to an early grave each year, experts warn
Pollution from using gas stove indoors kills nearly 4,000 Brits each year, a Spanish study suggests.
Gas cookers have been known to produce levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2,) a gas potentially harmful to humans, for years.
Now researchers from the University Jaume I have calculated indoor pollution from cooking with gas results in almost 40,000 premature deaths in Europe.
Britain accounts for 3,928 of this total, and alongside Italy, Poland, Romania and France are the worst hit countries in terms of these early deaths,
The researchers said indoor pollution from gas stoves was particularly bad in homes with poor ventilation and during lengthy cooks.
However, across the study, hazardous NO2 levels in breach of World Health Organization guidelines were found across the average home of 14 European nations, including Britain.
Researchers also estimated exposure to pollutants emitted from gas cooking contributes to almost 370,000 cases of childhood asthma across the continent.
The authors also warned their findings could be an underestimate as there was a lack of data on how exposure to some of the other substances emitted by gas cookers could harm human health.
Gas cookers have been known to produce levels of the gas nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which can be harmful to human health, but experts have previously been unable to account for the human cost
Lead author of the study, Dr Juana Maria Delgado-Saborit said: ‘Way back in 1978, we first learned that NO2 pollution is many times greater in kitchens using gas than electric cookers.
‘But only now are we able to put a number on the amount of lives being cut short.
‘The extent of the problem is far worse than we thought, with our modelling suggesting that the average home across half of Europe breaks WHO limits.
‘Outdoor air pollution lays the foundation for those breaches, but it is gas cookers that push homes into the danger zone.’
NO2 is well established pollutant that can harm human health by inflaming the airways of the lungs, with longer term exposure affecting how well the organs work as well as the heart.
However, most studies have examined the impact of NO2 exposure in terms of outdoor pollution, such as emissions from cars using fossil fuels, not that people may be exposed to in their own homes.
An estimated one third of European homes cook with gas and given how many people across continent stay indoors during the colder month in homes specifically designed to be as air tight as possible to conserve heat.
This, the authors suggested, means their findings could have major implications for health of people in these countries.
Researchers also estimated exposure to pollutants emitted from gas cooking contributes to almost 370,000 cases of childhood asthma across Europe
The authors came to their 40,000 premature death figure by comparing the known risks of gas cookers indoor air pollution established by previous research with governments’ data to scale them up to continent-wide total.
This study was done in cooperation with the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), a non-profit which campaigning for the EU to take action on the issue.
The body is calling for Brussels to phase out gas cookers by giving people financial incentives to switch to electric and also labelling the appliances with health warnings.
EPHA policy manager for global public health, Sara Bertucci, said: ‘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.
‘The true impacts are likely greater than predicted in this study. Knowing that, governments should take a lead in helping us quit gas, just like they helped us quit cigarettes.’
