That’s why I only use locally sourced all-natural charcoal in my kitchen stove.
Don’t have kids, problem solved.
I can remember a time in this country when men were proud to get cancer, God dammit! When it was a sign of manhood! John Wayne had cancer twice. Second time, they took out one of his lungs. He said, “Take ‘em both! Cuz I don’t fuckin’ need 'em! I’ll grow gills and breathe like a fish!”
It turns out that burning carcinogens in your living area isn’t the greatest idea. Who would have thought??
So many studies about gas stoves, ignoring the possibility that there’s adequate ventilation (tbf there usually isn’t) or the possibility that a lot of emissions are still there when cooking with electricity.
Biggest problem overall is the shitty standard that is accepted for range hoods.
Not to detract from the possibility that gas stoves are an unreasonable risk, but let’s collect all the data.
The pilot lights always seemed like a wasteful idea to me, never even considering they would be releasing combustion byproducts into the air all the time.
I’m not aware of any modern residential gas stoves which use a pilot, they use a spark to ignite on demand. Commercial ranges sometimes have a pilot though.
It’s still relatively common to have a pilot in a gas water heater or furnace though.
Anything that uses a standing pilot light these days is vented to ensure CO2 exposure is minimal. Pilots kick off enough heat to warm the vent itself and cause a stack effect, pulling the exhaust out. My fireplaces use pilot lights and you can use incense smoke to see the updraft (although that incense smoke is of course carcinogenic).
The emissions talked about with gas stoves come from the gas being burned.
Electric stoves, like induction stoves, don’t have emissions.
If your food emits benzene, something is wrong with your food
Not true. No matter what stove you cook with, cooking can produce large amounts of oil fumes (vaporized oil particles), smoke, and other VOCs from your food. All of this stuff is bad for your lungs.
Unless all you cook is boiled pasta, rice, veggies, gently simmered sauces, and sous vide (but not seared) proteins, you’re going to need a good quality range hood that (ideally) vents cooking emissions outside.
And if you use the “self-clean” feature on your oven (you shouldn’t regardless), it’s going to spew out some nasty shit.
The emissions from the act of cooking itself are not negligible and are never considered in these studies. Or perhaps I haven’t seen one that does; I don’t keep that close an eye on it.
This article reports on a study that measured benzene emissions in some scenarios and then leaps to conclusions based on those measurements. There’s no control.
But your food doesn’t emit benzene.
It emits high levels of pm2.5 which cause cancer
What does? Your food? Or your stove?
If it’s your food, you might want to change your diet, because that’s not healthy.
Tbh, I’m always smoking the house up to get the right crisp on my chicken. I might be using the wrong oil, and I know I’m probably not the only one lol
Sorry to but into this convo but cooking at around 300 degrees f starts creating advanced glycation end products (age) which is a driver of inflammation. It’s always better to make stews or soups rather than fry in oil or air bake fat, carbs, and protein together.
Any time the temperature goes above 160-180 is my understanding, and usually more so with frying
Are you using Celsius? Fahrenheit that’s near a sous vide temperature range and totally safe.
Regarding carcinogens, burning or browning anything is bad. But advanced glycation end products form when tou have the combination of carbs, fats, and protein plus dry heat.
Roughly 40% of U.S. households — and more than 70% of California households — use a natural gas cooking appliance, according to a 2023 estimate from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Growing concern over health and environmental impacts has prompted action in several states. In California, lawmakers passed AB2513 last year, which would have required warning labels on gas stoves sold in stores starting in 2026. Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, vetoed the bill.
California’s electricity rates are about twice those of most other US states.
I think that California would have more luck getting people to use electricity instead of natural gas if they’d work on getting California electricity prices down to something comparable to most of the other 48 states.
Probably also have more luck getting people to use electric vehicles instead of ICE vehicles.
Gas is expensive in California too though.
I installed solar panels on my house. Given how expensive electricity is in California, I estimated it’d only take me around 5-6 years to break even, and that number keeps going down as they increase electricity prices higher and higher. Electricity prices doubled from 2022 to 2024.
Electricity is significantly cheaper in areas that have municipal electricity, ran by the city itself. In PG&E’s area, it’s 62 cents per kWh during summer peak. On the other hand, I used to live in Palo Alto where electricity is around 18 cents per kWh, flat rate (no peak and off-peak rates).
Gas is expensive in California too though.
I’m not sure if natural gas in California is expensive compared to other areas, but I have natural gas in my heater, water heater, laundry, stove, and oven and I pay less than $30/month. My electricity bill is an order of magnitude higher each month and there’s only two people in my household and we don’t even have an AC or electric vehicle.
They aren’t measuring actual cancer rates, just the exposure to benzene and using that to estimate cancer risk. But compared to what? No cooking at all!
The real world is more complex. What’s the health exposure of eating out all the time or grilling (charcoal or propane)? How healthy are cooked foods vs. microwaved foods?
At best, this study suggests you should have good home ventilation.
Good point actually about the air ventilation. I was pretty meh about it unless something started to burn, but I recently bought a cheap air quality meter and measure spikes 2 rooms away. And just from normal cooking. Stoves, air fryer, ovens… Just a good habit to get into.
If you have an external venting range hood, use it all the time even if it’s just on low.
Recently installed a top-tier range hood and the company owner came out to meet me in their showroom. He pointed out stoves have gotten hotter over the past years, especially with wok cooking, so running the hood is essential when the stove is on if just to keep the electronics cool. This significantly extends the devices life.
Last decent study I saw (I’m too lazy to go find it) showed that grilling or smoking meat seems to increase health risks including cancer by a noticeable amount. Higher than I was comfortable with seeing, considering how often I grill or smoke meat. But, I still do it plenty. I didn’t see the data crossed out by the amount of meat intake, which is generally higher for people who grill at all. And could honestly account for some added health risks.
Dang, another thing I’ll have to change in the kitchen now (-_- )
Although switching from Teflon and other non-stick pans and skillets has been nice.
That’s kinda the point of these articles. California is on a campaign to vilify gas and convert everything to electric. Not saying that’s entirely bad, but there are pros and cons.
The cancer risk is what, 0.9% greater over the lifespan? Or 30-60 folks in the entire USA?
We have gone so overboard with this prop 65 stuff we have warnings on coffee shops and everything. It’s lost all meaning. But someone’s resume is well padded.
Wtf doesn’t cause cancer
California is known to the state of California to cause cancer.
There are so many studies that stare things “may” or “could” cause cancer but it’s not proven. My wife saw an article that said eating chicken could cause cancer.
Like, how much more natural can you get?
There’s chicken, and then there’s the weird, chlorine-cleaned, antibiotic-pumped meat that the US calls ‘chicken’.
Like, how much more natural can you get?
If you’re purchasing chicken from the grocery store, there’s a lot about it that is unnatural. Modern animal ag is very unnatural.
I do not know specifically what would cause cancer, but bioaccumulation of environmental toxins (e.g. pesticides) seems a likely culprit. But this is only speculation on my part.
There’s chicken and there’s chicken.
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