Pollution seeping from gas stoves kills 40,000 people each year across the EU and U.K., according to a new report, the latest contribution to a growing body of evidence that stoves pose a threat to human health.
For the report, researchers gauged levels of indoor nitrogen dioxide pollution in the roughly one-third of European households using gas cookers. They then looked at data on the impact of outdoor nitrogen dioxide pollution — from cars, power plants, and factories — to infer the toll of gas stoves.
On average, researchers determined, gas stoves shorten lifespans by nearly two years, leading to 36,031 early deaths across the EU and 3,928 early deaths in the U.K. each year.
The health impact of gas stoves is “significant and far greater than previously understood,” according to the report, authored by researchers at Jaume I University and the University of Valencia, both in Spain. Indoor pollution, they said, “cuts short the lives of millions of Europeans cooking on gas appliances.”
A U.S. study published in May came to a similar conclusion, finding that nitrogen dioxide from gas and propane stoves kills as many as 19,000 Americans each year. Notably, neither the research in Europe nor in the U.S. looked at other harmful gases produced by stoves, such as carbon monoxide, which can cause headaches and dizziness, or benzene, which has been linked to blood cancers.
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