A recent study linked “Natural Gas” (methane) burning stoves in homes as a cause of asthma. In fact the study says 13% of childhood asthmas are caused by burning gas in homes. This was picked up by the popular press (NBC, LA Times, many others). Googling today shows a bunch of sponsored links “refuting” these claims. But they are from places like The Government Accountability Project and Truth In Science. The American Gas Association predictably weighs in. What is more disturbing is several .gov sites seem to line up with the pro-gas folks, or at least add to the confusion (NIH, others).
What seems to be factual is that burning gas gives off toxins known to cause breathing problems. Actual measurements of gas stoves show high levels of these compounds. The push back basically comes of the form that the study isn’t “scientific”. Well. Yes. You can’t go exposing children to toxins to see how many get asthma. At least not today in America. So I’m going with “breathing burning gas vapors bad, especially for kids”.
This all started as a small data point on induction cooking. Even without the asthma and the global warming and the barrage of misinformation, the cooking experience is superior on induction. If you want to read more about the asthma connection, Scientific American seems fairly FUD-free.
Steven A. Guccione 