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Recent claims that gas stoves are associated with respiratory health issues should be taken with a grain of salt.
In December, a report in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health linked gas stoves with asthma. However, critics question how researchers arrived at that conclusion, contending that the study, funded by the Rocky Mountain Institute, bases its claim on weak statistical data and an assemblage of other half-baked studies — also known as “junk science.”
“The authors conducted no measurements or tests based on real-life appliance usage,” the American Gas Association stated.
Likewise, the Wall Street Journal opined that the study didn’t account for ventilation, which exhausts fumes and fine particulate matter from cooking to the outside. Even electric stoves can present a health hazard without a proper range hood. From the editorial: “The real problem isn’t gas stoves but how people use them.”
PERC’s own study at a residential kitchen laboratory concluded that more research is needed to definitively say that one source of fuel – electricity, propane or natural gas – produces more emissions than the other.
Builders shouldn’t have any concerns specifying gas stoves for their projects. Combined with a range hood that removes contaminants, a gas stove provides superior cooking performance without compromising indoor air quality.
Related: Watch: 4 cooking myths debunked
