After seeing how gas stoves pollute homes, these researchers are ditching theirs

Gas stoves produce more indoor air pollutants than even some scientists expect. After taking measurements, many of these researchers are switching to electric stoves — and warning the public about the health risks of cooking with gas.

When Tara Kahan took pollution readings inside homes after cooking with a gas stove in 2017 and 2018, the University of Saskatchewan chemist and her colleagues were surprised by both how high the levels of nitrogen oxides were and how long they lasted.

Exposure to nitrogen oxides, produced when gas is burned, is linked to respiratory problems such as asthma and decreased lung function, especially in children. For example, a 2013 meta-analysis of 41 studies found that children living in a home that used gas for cooking had a 42 per cent increased risk of having asthma.

Kahan's measurements found that not only did levels of nitrogen oxide pollutants sometimes exceed Health Canada guidelines for a one-hour exposure, but the pollutants often lingered for a couple of hours.

"It really took a long time to go away," said Kahan, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Environmental Analytical Chemistry. "All of the researchers were pretty horrified."

Kahan immediately applied the new knowledge to her own life.

"After that, as soon as it was feasible, I switched from a gas stove to [electric] induction," she said.

She's not the only one.

Rob Jackson, professor of environmental sciences at Stanford University, co-authored a recent study that found gas stoves leak unexpectedly high levels of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, even when they're off — and they generate significant levels of indoor air pollution.

What he found pushed him to work on electrifying his home too. 

His gas stove has an electric oven, but it doesn't seem possible to swap out just the burners. 

"I am reluctant to throw away a perfectly good electric oven," he said. "But we're going to do that."

The combined health and climate impacts of stoves are also starting to catch the attention of celebrity chefs, such as John Horne, Angus An and John Kung, who have become evangelists for electric induction stoves in a field where gas stoves were once considered an essential tool for anyone serious about cooking.

WATCH | Why scientists and chefs  are ditching their gas stoves — and touting this alternative