Restaurant workers are being exposed to dangerous heat and pollution from gas stoves: study

When you cook at home on a gas stove, you’re releasing hazardous pollutants into your air. So what does that mean for restaurant workers, who can spend hours in front of powerful commercial gas ranges? Those workers are being exposed to harmful air pollution levels, as well as dangerously high temperatures, that exceed safety guidelines and regulations, a new study found. However, the all-electric commercial kitchens the researchers studied were “strikingly cleaner and cooler,” says Drew Michanowicz, principal scientist at the nonprofit PSE Healthy Energy and one of the study authors. The study, published this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, is the first, the authors say, to look at air quality and heat levels in commercial kitchens, comparing ones with gas, propane, and all-electric appliances. ‘This is what workers are breathing in’ PSE Healthy Energy, a research nonprofit focused on understanding the impacts of our energy decisions, collaborated with Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine on the effort. It also partnered with Christopher Galarza, a chef who advocates for electric kitchens, who helped the…