Cooking on Gas Stoves 100 Times More Dangerous

Cooking on a gas stove in a tiny home is 100 times more deadly than leaving the car running in the garage, according to a new study out of Purdue University.

In the research, the Purdue team used a “tiny house” laboratory equipped with sophisticated sensors to monitor air quality. This setup allowed the researchers to closely observe the impact of cooking with gas stoves on indoor air quality. The findings indicate that cooking could lead to the deposition of 10 billion to 1 trillion nano-particles in a person’s airways and the tracheobronchial region of the lungs.

The study states that “indoor atmospheric [Nanocluster aerosol (NCA)] emission factors can reach up to ∼1016 NCA/kg-fuel during propane gas cooking and can exceed those for vehicles with gasoline and diesel engines.”

“These super tiny nano-particles are so small that you’re not able to see them,” associate professor Brandon Boor from Purdue’s Lyles School of Civil Engineering explained to Southwest News Service. “They’re not like dust particles you would see floating in the air.” The invisibility of these particles, according to Boor, makes them particularly insidious, as individuals are unaware of their presence and potential health risks.

Boor, according to the New York Post, further emphasized the severity of the findings, stating, “After observing such high concentrations of nano-cluster aerosol during gas cooking, we can’t ignore these nano-sized particles anymore.”

The issue of gas stove safety has been a topic of debate, highlighted last year by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed ban on gas stoves within the state. The ban was motivated by concerns over the damaging effects of gas stoves on personal health and the wider environment, a stance that this new study from Purdue University appears to support.

Given these findings, the researchers are advocating for increased ventilation in kitchens, specifically recommending the use of exhaust fans during cooking to help mitigate the risk posed by these particles.

“Since most people don’t turn on their exhaust fan while cooking, having kitchen hoods that activate automatically would be a logical solution,” Boor said.