Last Updated: February 27, 2019
Description
Air Quality: Gas Stoves
Image: UNC CEHS COEC
Big idea: Nitrogen dioxide from unvented gas stoves, heaters, and cars worsens asthma.
Talking Points:
- In addition to wildfires and traffic, use of gas stoves, particularly those without a working exhaust fan overhead, can negatively affect lung health. Over one-third of all US homes use gas cooking stoves, which can release nitrogen dioxide.
- Nitrogen dioxide is a gas that can diminish lung function and cause respiratory infections.
- 39% of US homes have gas stoves.
- Indoor exposure to nitrogen dioxide has been shown to worsen asthma among children. In a study of more than 1,300 children in the northeastern US, researchers found that exposure to nitrogen dioxide increased asthma severity and dependence upon rescue medicine.
- Nitrogen dioxide is not only emitted by gas stoves; it also comes from tailpipes of cars.
Sources:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), page updated 2014.
Belanger et al, 2013. Household levels of nitrogen dioxide and pediatric asthma severity.
Favarato, Graziella, et al, 2014. Traffic-related pollution and asthma prevalence in children. Quantification of associations with nitrogen dioxide.
US Energy Information Administration (EIA), 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey. Released February 2017.
Categories: Air Quality