Worse than an exhaust pipe: the dangers of cooking on a gas stove are named

The gas stove in your home may emit more harmful nanoparticles than the exhaust pipe of a gasoline-powered car, according to a new study. Clouds of these tiny particles, also known as soot, range in size from one to three nanometers each. They’re just the right size to get stuck in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, said the Indiana scientists who conducted the study.

The researchers found that preparing a simple grilled cheese sandwich could expose residents to up to 10 million nanocluster aerosols per cubic nanometer, compared to about 1 million emitted by cars near a busy street.

According to the Daily Mail, the news comes about a year after some officials at the US Consumer Product Safety Commission considered banning gas stoves – a move that never materialized but became a political lightning rod.

Exposure to millions of particulate matter particles, even over relatively short periods of 24 hours, can be harmful, according to the California Air Resources Board.

Nanocluster aerosols may contribute to the development of respiratory diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, and increase a person’s chances of going to the hospital for cardiac or pulmonary reasons. Exposure to these nanoparticles has even been linked to dementia and cognitive decline.

More than a third of US homes, about 47 million, are equipped with propane or natural gas stoves, the Daily Mail notes.

“Combustion remains a source of air pollution worldwide, both indoors and outdoors,” said study lead author Brandon Boer, an associate professor of civil engineering at Purdue University, in a statement. “We found that when cooking with your gas “The stove produces a large number of small nanoparticles that enter your respiratory system and are effectively deposited.”

The team used an air quality monitoring system to test the nanoparticles in a “tiny house” laboratory that was equipped with sensors to closely monitor the impact of daily activities on air quality in the home.

In addition to measuring how many nanocluster aerosol particles a propane furnace generates, the scientists also used computer models to estimate how many particles someone might inhale.

Trillions of aerosol nanocluster particles were released in just 20 minutes of boiling water or cooking grilled cheese sandwiches or pancakes on a gas stove.

And during that 20-minute period, they estimate that an adult could inhale between 10 billion and one trillion of these particles.

The study authors write that this is 10-100 times the dose of soot that you would get if you stood on a busy street for the same amount of time.

The study only looked at nanoparticles from gas stoves and cars, and not other air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide or carbon monoxide.

It was also discovered that the aerosol of nanoclusters coming out of a gas stove easily mixed with larger particles released into the air from butter or anything else being cooked on a gas stove.

Although the concentration of particles increased rapidly during cooking, reaching their peak after approximately 20 minutes, they quickly dissipated.

The data shows that particles settle out of the air about as quickly, returning to baseline levels within 10 to 20 minutes.

This is likely due to the combined effects of ventilation and the fact that particles settle on surfaces, the Daily Mail notes.

Luckily, there is an easy way to reduce the concentration of these harmful particles.

The scientists who conducted the study recommend turning on an exhaust fan whenever they cook on a gas stove.

“Since most people don’t turn on the hood fan when cooking, having kitchen hoods that turn on automatically would be a logical solution,” says Brandon Boer.

“Moving forward, we need to think about how we can reduce our exposure to all types of indoor air pollutants,” he continued. “Based on our new data, we would recommend that nanocluster aerosol be considered a separate category of air pollutant.”