Gas cooking linked to 12.7% of childhood asthma in US
Cooking with gas indoors has been linked to 12.7% of all childhood asthma cases in the United States, a new study has found, comparing its effect on health to that of second-hand smoking.
The research prompted calls, including from US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, for more Americans to use electric and induction stovetops, as well as criticism from the gas lobby.
Around 35% of American kitchens have gas stovetops, which previous research has shown have higher levels of nitrogen dioxide that has in turn been linked to higher asthma rates.
The environmental think tank Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) led the peer-reviewed study, which was published last month in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
The study's lead author Talor Gruenwald, a data scientist at electrification advocacy group Rewiring America, said the findings suggested that around 650,000 children in the US "are suffering from asthma who might not otherwise if they weren't exposed to gas stoves".
Pointing to a comparable asthma risk from second-hand smoke, he told AFP that "using a gas stove is pretty much like having a smoker living in your home".
The study used the same method...