Researches reveal that gas stoves are one of the potential contributing factors to elevate indoor air pollution. Moreover, various supplementary analyses claim that the source makes the indoor air almost (2-5) times polluted than the outdoor air.
The problem asserted above has been a long-driven problem ever since the officials have failed to set up a standardized indoor air quality specification. The same has been catalyzed in these current ages due to the ‘lockdown; effects of due to Corona Virus. The review communicated by the Rocky Mountain institute claimed that the stoves operate via fossil fuels are exposing more than tens of millions of Americans to the adverse effects of indoor air pollution.
The households that use these gas stoves emit not only nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, but also responsible for emitting particulate matter inducing the particulate pollution. The problem is becoming gross for cases that use old gas stoves.
The primary question arises what happens if we are exposed to a short term and low concertation of nitrogen dioxide? Well, the research says that even a small concentration of nitrogen dioxide may be responsible for inducing and accelerating the ill effects of asthma. A case study carried out in the US demonstrated that children exposed to indoor pollution posses 42% higher chances of getting affected with asthma. Furthermore, nitrogen dioxide also causes deadly respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which may, in turn, affect the cardiovascular system and have secondary influences on diabetes and cancer. Exposure to carbon monoxide may lead to severe headaches and generate complicated heart diseases.
The best option is to switch to an electric stove system. However, electric stoves are not accessible to all either die to the energy source or due to the economic constraints. In that case, you are always advised to keep the gas Infront of a window, which shall allow the circulation of air. The scenario may be modified by using an exhaust hood along with installing a carbon monoxide detector.
Its time that we must start addressing these concerns seriously in an attempt to protect the populations which cannot afford electric heater or do not have an infrastructure to build so.
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