HEALTH
Gas and other fossil fuels are unhealthy, unsafe, and contribute to the climate crisis, posing public health dangers of many kinds.
LEARN MORE
Gas is a Toxic Fuel
The gas we use to heat our homes and cook our food is 95% methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is accelerating the warming of our climate.
Methane itself is toxic, and fracked gas contains even more toxins, carcinogens, and radioactive elements that are leaked into our atmosphere and homes:
Carcinogens: formaldehyde, radon, benzene
Neurotoxins: ethanol, ethylbenzene
Breathing Hazards: butane, ethane, heptane, hexane, isoprene, ozone, particulate matter
Hydrocarbons: pentene, ethylene
Most of the gas we use in Massachusetts and nearby states is fracked, or extracted from the ground by a process of hydraulic fracturing that requires hundreds of chemicals, many of which are toxic and can be found in the gas delivered to our communities.
We don’t need to rely on a toxic, explosive, climate-damaging gas. There are healthier, safer solutions we can use now to ensure that everyone has access to cleaner air.
Gas and Outdoor Air Pollution
Burning gas and other fossil fuels degrades air quality.
In Massachusetts, heating buildings with gas instead of electricity contributes:
7 times more outdoor nitrogen oxides, a precursor to smog, than power plants
20 times more outdoor fine particulate pollution than power plants
Air pollution from burning fossil fuels in buildings alone cost the Commonwealth at least $8.4 billion in health impacts.
Using gas contributes to outdoor air pollution that’s associated with increased rates of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cardiovascular disease.
Find your state on this interactive air quality impacts map.
Gas and Indoor Air Quality
Asthma cases can originate with gas combustion fumes. Source: iStockphoto
Cooking with gas stoves contributes to household air pollution.
Children are particularly vulnerable to pollution from gas used to cook food in their homes.
Children living in homes with gas stoves have a 42% higher risk of asthma. Children with asthma have more severe and frequent asthma symptoms if they live in homes with gas stoves.
The effect of cooking with gas on childhood asthma is comparable to the impact of second hand smoke in the home. Read more: Kicking the Gas Habit: How Gas is Harming Our Health.
The research is growing and the facts are undeniable: Gas is unhealthy. We have better ways to heat our homes and cook our food.
DOWNLOAD AND SHARE
Mothers Out Front present the risks of cooking with gas on children.
Learn about alternatives to cooking with gas.
Environmental Justice and Health
Air pollution disproportionately impacts environmental justice communities, creating health disparities and inequity.
People in environmental justice communities are more regularly exposed to unhealthy air, making them more vulnerable to respiratory illnesses like asthma, heart disease, and pulmonary disease.
Indoor air quality and health are directly connected to energy issues.
By reducing gas use, we can greatly decrease air pollution in and from buildings and address important health injustices.
Advancing equitable energy efficiency is part of the solution.
HEET's EJAir (Environmental Justice Air) program uses energy efficiency to improve public health. The initiative connects residents with energy efficiency programs that help weatherize, retrofit homes, and reduce indoor air pollution.
Health professionals are concerned about the health impacts of gas and climate change.
FIND OUT MORE: