Cooking pollution
The health of young children is at risk from high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ) in kitchens. NO2 is formed when the nitrogen and oxygen in the air react in the gas flame of the burners. Researchers from the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in Garston, the uk, surveyed 876 homes across England for over 17 months. They found concentrations of NO2 in kitchens that used gas burners frequently exceeded both the World Health Organisation (WHO) background limit of 40 microgrammes per cubic metre and the hourly limit of 200. The background limit was breached in more than half of the 57 per cent of homes that used natural gas. Jeff Llewellyn, BRE's indoor pollution expert, says that kitchen windows should be opened while cooking (www.newscientist.com, December 15, 2001).
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