Cooking can pollute the air inside your house to such an extent that breathing in your kitchen may be as safe as breathing by a busy roadside. A poor supply of oxygen can prevent gas or solid fuels from burning properly, which produces harmful pollutants such as fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides which can irritate the lungs and increase the risk of asthma, lung cancer and heart disease such as stroke.

The extent of pollution depends on the types of fuel used. In the developed world, the most common fuel is gas and electricity. In developing countries, people depend on more polluting options such as coal, charcoal, wood and cow dung. Children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with existing health conditions are the most vulnerable to the resulting pollution.

About one in eight cases of childhood asthma in the US has been linked to gas cooking stoves. President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act will offer households up to US$1,340 to switch from a gas to an electric induction stove.

Policies to replace gas stoves are slow and difficult to implement. If you have one in your home, there are things you can do now to reduce your exposure. Here are our top seven.

1. Stay out of the kitchen

Congregating in the kitchen while someone is cooking exposes more people to emissions unnecessarily. It also increases the CO₂ levels, which can be over 7% higher with two or more occupants compared with one.

2. Reduce fuel stacking

Relying on multiple fuel types in the kitchen, like a combination of an electric oven and a gas stove, is referred to as fuel stacking, and it can prevent people from adopting clean cooking practices. People can be encouraged to switch to cleaner cooking fuels and stoves if the relevant fuels and compatible cookstoves and devices are made accessible and affordable.

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The reduced fuel staking is more realistic because we can't stop cooking with gas when electricity for here nor stable