Saturday, Sept 21

A recent study reveals that gas stoves are even more dangerous than previously thought, attributing roughly 19,000 adult deaths annually in the U.S. to long-term daily exposure to the indoor air pollution these stoves cause. What can you do if you have a gas stove? And no budget to replace it? Dot dials down the temperature on the alarm and guides you toward healthy cooking:

Dear Dot,

I’ve been hearing about the dangers of gas stoves. I’m not particularly attached to mine but I do like it. And it’s not in my family’s budget to replace it with an electric version right now. So what can I do to keep my family safe?

—Holly

Dear Holly,

Your question pulls us into the hot topic of gas stoves and their impact on indoor air pollution, as well as their contribution to our warming planet. It’s a debate that’s got some people boiling mad (primarily but not exclusively natural gas companies and climate deniers) and insisting that, as former White House doctor Ronny Jackson put it in a tweet, “they can pry [my gas stove] from my cold, dead hands.” 

But in the center of all the simmering tensions around gas stoves is a December 2022 peer-reviewed study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, which found that almost 13% of childhood asthma could be attributed to living in a home with a gas stove. It’s a study that joins the “piles of research spanning decades” that shows a link between gas stoves and respiratory and cardiovascular conditions in those who live in a home with one, according to Rebecca Leber, a climate reporter with Vox who’s been covering this topic since long before it was cool. Or hot.

But before you blow your top, please know that there are steps you can take to reduce risk. What are they? Read on.