Is it time to ban g

Analysis Public health

Is it time to ban gas stoves? There is mounting evidence
that cooking on gas creates dangerous indoor air pollution and authorities are starting to take notice, finds Madeleine Cuff



FOR many restaurant chefs and enthusiastic amateurs, gas has long been the fuel of choice for stove-top cooking. But this love affair with the fuel could be coming to an end in
the face of growing evidence of the
health and climate threat it poses.
In an interview with Bloomberg News on 9 January, a commissioner
for the US Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) hinted that the agency is considering a ban on new gas stoves for public health reasons.
Following a backlash from gas lovers, just two days later the CPSC said it
had no plans for a ban.
Yet there are good reasons
to reconsider gas. These stoves
produce nitrogen dioxide and

The impact of gas cookers on
climate change is another issue, and
it isn’t just the carbon emitted from the flame that is a problem. Last year, a team found that methane leaking
from gas-burning stoves in the US

“One could argue that the
risk attached to a gas stove
is likely to be larger than
living in a polluted city”

has a climate impact comparable
with the carbon dioxide emissions
from about 500,000 petrol cars.
The seemingly vast public
health risk posed by these stoves
means authorities may be starting
to take notice. In the European Union,