New ‘Global Cooksafe Coalition’ calls time on dangerous fuels in our kitchens
Leading chefs and multi-billion dollar property companies commit to electric cooking, including an ambitious gas exit pledge.
Health
Cooking with gas is harmful for our health
Over the past forty years, multiple scientific studies have revealed worrying health impacts caused by gas cooking.
Research shows that children living in a home with a gas stove have a 42% increased risk of having current asthma and a 24% greater chance of being diagnosed with asthma at some point in life. Recent studies from UCLA show that households using gas cooking can have higher levels of air pollution inside than is legal to have outdoors.
Gas, a polluting fossil fuel, remains the dominant cooking fuel globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 50% of the global population currently relies on gas, including LPG, as their primary cooking fuel, representing almost 70% of all urban dwellers and 30% of rural populations. In low- and middle-income countries, the situation is starker, with 3.2 million premature deaths each year from illnesses attributable to the household air pollution caused by cooking with solid fuel and kerosene.
Gas use is growing globally, despite decades of scientific, peer-reviewed research that demonstrates that cooking with gas is bad for our health and the climate.
The gas we burn in our homes releases toxic pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. While many parents today would not expose their children to second-hand cigarette smoke, the effect of gas cooktops on the burden of childhood asthma is comparable to the impact of passive smoking in the household.
Health experts support the transition to electric cooking
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