4 ms·

Frying pan PM2.5 is pollution, and has been linked to increased childhood asthma, on of the easier and more immediate readouts from exposure. Linking dementia t

Frying pan PM2.5 is pollution, and has been linked to increased childhood asthma, on of the easier and more immediate readouts from exposure. Linking dementia to that is a far harder scientific task due to the amounts of exposure and variability over time. Here's one blog post going over some of the evidence linking gas stoves to asthma: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/have-a-gas-stove-how-to-reduce-pollution-that-may-harm-health-202209072811 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/have-a-gas-stove-how-to-...

bcrosby95 1y ago
[flagged]
- culi 1y ago
  > Children living in households that use gas stoves for cooking are 42% more likely to have asthma, according to an analysis of observational research. While observational studies can't prove that cooking with gas is the direct cause of asthma, data also show that the higher the nitrogen dioxide level, the more severe the asthma symptoms in children and adults. Nobody is saying frying some eggs is equivalent to sucking the tail pipe of a 50s era car. You're arguing with yourself.
  - rvba 1y ago
    Makes me wonder if cooks, who (in many countries) stand in front of a gas stove for long hours every day have a statistically higher chance of asthma?
    - klipt 1y ago
      Even worse than asthma https://preventcancer.org/article/lung-cancer-asian-american-women/ https://preventcancer.org/article/lung-cancer-asian-american... > Environmental exposures, such as cooking oil fumes and secondhand smoke, have long been identified as risk factors for lung cancer among women in Asia who do not smoke
      - bakql 1y ago
        Those exposures are completely unrelated to the burner used in the kitchen.
blueflow 1y ago
How is that related to what GP wrote?
- epistasis 1y ago
  That poster seemed to be saying that frying pan PM2.5 was not a health risk: > Heck, my PM2.5 meter skyrockets whenever I cook anything in a frying pan, because many of the aerosolized oil droplets are PM2.5. I'm not sure how they determined that PM2.5 is not a neurotoxin, or the full extent of their claims, but frying pans inside are a common cause of minor health problems.
  - blueflow 1y ago
    The point was that PM2.5 is a measurement of particle size, and that by itself allows no judgement about its toxicity. The same way you cannot argue that things of 5 centimeter diameter are healthy. The toxicity judgement comes from the information what substance has the form of PM2.5, and the journo managed to omit that.
    - epistasis 1y ago
      > The point was that PM2.5 is a measurement of particle size, and that by itself allows no judgement about its toxicity. This does not logically follow at all. The size indicates where it can reach in the lungs, whether cilia can eject it, etc. A 5cm ball shot at the head at high speed is indeed dangerous. We are talking about inhalation of particles causing irritation, and the size is indeed the major factor. Content as well, but frying pan particles filled with carbon chains that have gone through who knows what reactions are indeed of concern. Lots of extremely nasty things are easily accessible from chains of hydrocarbons, from toluene to formaldehyde. > The toxicity judgement comes from the information what substance has the form of PM2.5, and the journo managed to omit that. I believe the journalist is not at fault here in the least. The scientific papers I have seen usually class all PM2.5 together, and perhaps by source. But the size itself is of great concern due to the size allowing easy entry to the body that is not possible for larger sizes.
    - 1y ago
deleted 1y ago
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tim333 1y ago
Gas stoves produce NO2, not PM2.5.
- epistasis 1y ago
  Frying pans produce PM2.5, gas stove or no. I am talking about PM2.5. What is your point?
  - tim333 1y ago
    You link to a report about gas stoves not frying pans.
    - epistasis 1y ago
      OH! Thank you for pointing out the error! I seem to have pasted the wrong link, and am not on my computer that I was doing the searching on before... please accept this short book chapter instead, though it is far more dry than the page I remember reading before. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK385529/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK385529/ Apologies!
      - tim333 1y ago
        Ah - that makes more sense.
  - stephen_g 1y ago
    The point is that your link seems to be almost entirely talking about something else (pollutants from burning gas inside, which is primarily NOx)! There is one passing mention of gas stoves producing some extra PM2.5 (which I expect will be different in composition to the PM2.5 produced in the pan) but all of the rest of it seems to be focused on the NOx
- ljf 1y ago
  https://www.cieh.org/ehn/environmental-protection/2025/april/which-study-reveals-gas-hobs-are-polluting-indoor-air/ https://www.cieh.org/ehn/environmental-protection/2025/april... Quote: Research shows cooking on domestic gas hobs can cause two of the most harmful air pollutants, NO2 and PM2.5, to exceed WHO guidelines

bcrosby95 1y ago

[flagged]

culi 1y ago
> Children living in households that use gas stoves for cooking are 42% more likely to have asthma, according to an analysis of observational research. While observational studies can't prove that cooking with gas is the direct cause of asthma, data also show that the higher the nitrogen dioxide level, the more severe the asthma symptoms in children and adults. Nobody is saying frying some eggs is equivalent to sucking the tail pipe of a 50s era car. You're arguing with yourself.
- rvba 1y ago
  Makes me wonder if cooks, who (in many countries) stand in front of a gas stove for long hours every day have a statistically higher chance of asthma?
  - klipt 1y ago
    Even worse than asthma https://preventcancer.org/article/lung-cancer-asian-american-women/ https://preventcancer.org/article/lung-cancer-asian-american... > Environmental exposures, such as cooking oil fumes and secondhand smoke, have long been identified as risk factors for lung cancer among women in Asia who do not smoke
    - bakql 1y ago
      Those exposures are completely unrelated to the burner used in the kitchen.

blueflow 1y ago

How is that related to what GP wrote?

epistasis 1y ago
That poster seemed to be saying that frying pan PM2.5 was not a health risk: > Heck, my PM2.5 meter skyrockets whenever I cook anything in a frying pan, because many of the aerosolized oil droplets are PM2.5. I'm not sure how they determined that PM2.5 is not a neurotoxin, or the full extent of their claims, but frying pans inside are a common cause of minor health problems.
- blueflow 1y ago
  The point was that PM2.5 is a measurement of particle size, and that by itself allows no judgement about its toxicity. The same way you cannot argue that things of 5 centimeter diameter are healthy. The toxicity judgement comes from the information what substance has the form of PM2.5, and the journo managed to omit that.
  - epistasis 1y ago
    > The point was that PM2.5 is a measurement of particle size, and that by itself allows no judgement about its toxicity. This does not logically follow at all. The size indicates where it can reach in the lungs, whether cilia can eject it, etc. A 5cm ball shot at the head at high speed is indeed dangerous. We are talking about inhalation of particles causing irritation, and the size is indeed the major factor. Content as well, but frying pan particles filled with carbon chains that have gone through who knows what reactions are indeed of concern. Lots of extremely nasty things are easily accessible from chains of hydrocarbons, from toluene to formaldehyde. > The toxicity judgement comes from the information what substance has the form of PM2.5, and the journo managed to omit that. I believe the journalist is not at fault here in the least. The scientific papers I have seen usually class all PM2.5 together, and perhaps by source. But the size itself is of great concern due to the size allowing easy entry to the body that is not possible for larger sizes.
  - 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

tim333 1y ago

Gas stoves produce NO2, not PM2.5.

epistasis 1y ago
Frying pans produce PM2.5, gas stove or no. I am talking about PM2.5. What is your point?
- tim333 1y ago
  You link to a report about gas stoves not frying pans.
  - epistasis 1y ago
    OH! Thank you for pointing out the error! I seem to have pasted the wrong link, and am not on my computer that I was doing the searching on before... please accept this short book chapter instead, though it is far more dry than the page I remember reading before. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK385529/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK385529/ Apologies!
    - tim333 1y ago
      Ah - that makes more sense.
- stephen_g 1y ago
  The point is that your link seems to be almost entirely talking about something else (pollutants from burning gas inside, which is primarily NOx)! There is one passing mention of gas stoves producing some extra PM2.5 (which I expect will be different in composition to the PM2.5 produced in the pan) but all of the rest of it seems to be focused on the NOx
ljf 1y ago
https://www.cieh.org/ehn/environmental-protection/2025/april/which-study-reveals-gas-hobs-are-polluting-indoor-air/ https://www.cieh.org/ehn/environmental-protection/2025/april... Quote: Research shows cooking on domestic gas hobs can cause two of the most harmful air pollutants, NO2 and PM2.5, to exceed WHO guidelines