By installing sensors in homes, scientists have reached the conclusion that more than half of French households using gas cooking are exposed during cooking to levels of nitrogen dioxide, higher than WHO recommendations.
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Gas hobs or ovens pose a silent threat to French homes. A study, published Wednesday November 8, commissioned in particular by the Respire association which campaigns for better air quality, shows that when you simmer your soup, or when fry your onions on gas hobs, you are exposed to nitrogen dioxide emitted during cooking.
More than half of French households using gas cooking, 53% precisely, exceed the daily threshold recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The researchers achieved this result by installing sensors in 35 French homes as well as around a hundred others in the Netherlands, Romania, Italy and Spain in particular. They noticed that pollution peaks can last several hours and are all the more intense if cooking appliances remain on for a long time. And this, despite the presence of an extractor hood system.
Too much exposure to nitrogen dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide concentration levels would be almost twice as high in homes that use gas cooking appliances than in those that use electric ones. Inflammation of the respiratory tract, cough, reduction in lung function represent all risks linked to excessive exposure to nitrogen dioxide. In a similar study carried out by the same organizations last January, researchers assured that nearly 150,000 children in France present asthma symptoms linked to gas stoves.
To protect yourself from this, you must either switch to electric hotplates or ventilate more regularly, even if according to these associations this is not so effective. They are campaigning for the implementation of specific labeling on household appliances to indicate pollution levels.