When the blue flame fires up on a gas stove, there’s more than heat coming off the burner. Researchers at Stanford University found that among the pollutants emitted from stoves is benzene, which is linked to cancer.
Levels of benzene can reach higher than those found in secondhand tobacco smoke and the benzene pollution can spread throughout a home, according to the research.
The findings add to a growing body of scientific evidence showing that emissions within the home are more harmful than gas stove owners have been led to believe. And it comes as stoves have been dragged into the country’s ongoing culture wars.
What researchers found
Stanford scientists measured benzene from gas stoves in 87 California and Colorado homes in 2022 for the paper published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. They found both natural gas and propane stoves “emitted detectable and repeatable levels of benzene that in some homes raised indoor benzene concentrations above well-established health benchmarks.”
Stanford researchers in Bakersfield, Ca. operate a benzene analyzer in the back of an electric vehicle. They used an EV because pollution from gas exhaust contains benzene, which could alter results.
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability )
The risks of benzene have long been known. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the chemical is linked to…
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