XPost: ca.environment, ba.politics, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   When Robert Jackson began studying greenhouse gas exposure inside homes a   
   few years ago, a team of fellow Stanford researchers camped out in his   
   kitchen for a few days to monitor the emissions coming from his own gas   
   stove.   
      
   They ran tests with all the windows closed and again with all of them   
   open, and with air filters on and off. They turned on three burners at   
   once, and cooked with and without the stove hood running.   
      
   The results of the study convinced Jackson that gas stoves are a   
   significant public health problem. And they compelled him to replace his   
   own gas stove with an electric one.   
      
   “Seeing it in real time was a surprise to me,” said Jackson, a professor   
   in Earth system science at Stanford. “This is a serious health issue, and   
   I think electrification is the solution.”   
      
   Several studies indicate that cooking with gas stoves can have long-   
   lasting health effects, mostly to respiratory health but also potentially   
   heart health too. For those who can afford it, switching to electric is   
   almost certainly a healthier choice.   
      
   But buying a new stove isn’t possible for everyone. Now, some scientists   
   studying the issue say they have enough evidence that it’s time to   
   consider public policy to make it more affordable for people to switch to   
   electric.   
      
   And in the meantime, they have advice for people with gas stoves to lower   
   their exposure to nitrogen dioxide, the main pollutant of concern.   
      
   What are the dangers?   
   Cooking with gas releases nitrogen dioxide, NO2, the same toxic emission   
   produced by gas-powered vehicles and coal-fired power plants that is   
   responsible for most outdoor air pollution. Nitrogen dioxide is well   
   documented as causing a variety of health problems, mostly respiratory.   
   Children who are chronically exposed to the pollution are more likely to   
   develop asthma, and the gas can exacerbate existing heart and lung   
   problems in people of all ages.   
      
   The United States has made tremendous progress in reducing nitrogen   
   dioxide in the air outdoors by introducing policies and standards to   
   reduce auto emissions and other major sources of pollution.   
      
   But efforts to address indoor air quality have had less success. Berkeley   
   in 2019 became the first city in the nation to ban new natural gas hookups   
   in buildings as part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and   
   improve air quality, inspiring dozens of similar ordinances across   
   California. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2023 ruled that   
   Berkeley’s ban conflicted with federal energy law, leading the city to   
   repeal its ordinance and prompting other local governments to pause or   
   roll back their own gas-ban policies amid ongoing legal and political   
   battles.   
      
   “People spend 90% of their time indoors on average,” Jackson said. “We   
   have spent billions of dollars to improve air quality outdoors and almost   
   nothing to improve air quality indoors, where we live most of the day.”   
      
   Despite decades of raising concerns about emissions from indoor cooking,   
   it’s only in the past 10 or 20 years that scientists have begun bringing   
   equipment into homes and studying people’s exposure to toxic gas inside.   
   Results of those studies clearly show that people who use gas stoves are   
   exposed to far more nitrogen dioxide than those who cook with electric.   
      
   The exact harm caused by the nitrogen dioxide remains somewhat of a   
   mystery because it’s challenging to isolate that single exposure. Jackson   
   estimated in a 2024 study that nitrogen dioxide exposure from gas stoves   
   could be responsible for more than 50,000 current cases of pediatric   
   asthma.   
      
   “What’s safe, no one really knows,” Jackson said. “But we know that   
   breathing air with higher concentrations of nitrogen dioxide irritates   
   airways and increases emergency room visits.”   
      
   John Balmes, a professor emeritus at UCSF and UC Berkeley who studies air   
   pollutants and respiratory health, said that he encourages patients with   
   pre-existing lung or heart conditions to seriously consider switching to   
   electric if they can afford it.   
      
   For everyone else, “whether the juice is worth the squeeze in terms of   
   affordability, that’s kind of an individual patient decision,” he said.   
      
   Who is at risk   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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