The harmful effects of gas cookers on health and the environment

Researcher Juana M. Delgado is explaining the findings of a scientific report to the UK Parliament. The report, presented last year by the UJI, UV, and IDIAP Jordi Gol, details the situation in Europe and Great Britain.

Juana Mari Delgado Saborit, a researcher at the Universitat Jaume I, participated as an expert in a presentation on public health problems and the effects of gas cooking on the climate at the UK Parliament, as part of the event “Policy pathways to electrify cooking for public health and the planet”.

In her speech, the coordinator of the research group Perinatal Epidemiology, Environmental Health and Clinical Research helped to put the magnitude of the problem into perspective by providing figures on the number of children with asthma and premature deaths associated with the use of gas cookers, and highlighted the need for measures and policies to reduce emissions from these appliances.

The professor shared the panel with Nicole Kearny, director of CLASP for Europe, which promotes efficient appliances to combat climate change and improve people's lives; and Eric Lebel and Yannai Kashtain, from PSE Healthy Energy in the United States, a scientific research institute specializing in integrating science into energy policies to provide solutions that protect public health and the environment.

The event also featured a success story from Manchester on the use of induction cookers and the report "Policy pathways for the transition to electric cooking in the UK," which includes several implementation recommendations and a list of barriers that must be overcome to achieve a transition that is sustainable for health, the environment and the economy. A second panel featured representatives from local authorities and industry to explain how homes were being electrified.

The event was attended by members of Parliament, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the UK Health Security Agency, medical colleges such as the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, local councils, non-profit organizations, kitchen appliance manufacturers and retailers, real estate companies and professionals and researchers in health, the environment and sustainable energy, among others. MP Afzal Khan gave the closing speech.

Report on pollution in the European Union and the United Kingdom

Delgado led the research team that last year produced a report explaining the health impact and economic cost in terms of premature mortality and asthma cases in children and the rest of the population that can be attributed to toxic emissions from gas cookers in the European Union and the United Kingdom, which can be consulted in the UJI repository.

According to research carried out by the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, in collaboration with the Universitat de València and the IDIAP Jordi Gol, the World Health Organization's recommendations are regularly breached in the average home in 14 European countries, although not in Spain, when environmental pollution is combined with fumes from gas cookers during normal use, and are believed to be the cause of 39,959 premature deaths in the EU and the United Kingdom.

The countries most affected are Italy, Poland, Romania, France and the United Kingdom, where most households cook with gas. Pollution is worse in poorly ventilated homes and during longer cooking sessions.  Lives in Spain are shortened by just over a year on average, affecting some 2,000 people.