Gas stoves pollute homes with benzene, which is linked to cancer | Hacker News Reader

Gas stoves pollute homes with benzene, which is linked to cancer

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57 pointsrntn26 comments

On a related note if people want a rabbit hole to venture down, look up the effects of isothiocyanate's on benzene and other metabolite excretion. IIRC sulforaphane found in cruciferous vegetables can increase the excretion of benzene upwards of 60%. There are some studies on this topic on nih.gov but I won't cherry pick. Start with google using "site:nih.gov cruciferous vegetables benzene excretion"

That comment is for people stuck with gas stoves and/or that reside near automotive exhaust. Consider eating cruciferous veggies.

Got a induction set in the driveway literally waiting to be installed but am curious about this. Not sure I've interpreted your post right but your saying some veggies can help the body get rid of benzene?

your saying some veggies can help the body get rid of benzene?

Yes, specifically veggies in the cruciferous family. [1] link to the family of veggies, not the studies on benzene excretion

I should also add that increasing the intake of cruciferous veggies can also cause an increase in immune response which can be a positive and/or a negative and something to generally be aware of, especially those that already have auto-immune disorders.

[1] - https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/d...

For those wondering what kind of vegetables fall into this category:

- Arugula (also called rocket)

- Bok choy

- Broccoli

- Brussels sprouts

- Cabbage

- Cauliflower

- Chard

- Collard and mustard greens

- Daikon radish

- Horseradish

- Kale

- Kohlrabi

- Radish

- Rapini (broccoli rabi)

- Rutabaga

- Turnip

- Wasabi

- Watercress

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/crunchy-and-cruciferous-y...

Everyone should eat cruciferous vegetables regardless. If you think you don't like them, you might want to try some alternate preparations.

Interestingly, a large number of cruciferous vegetables are the same plant.

"Brassica oleracea is a plant species from family Brassicaceae that includes many common cultivars used as vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, Savoy cabbage, kohlrabi, and gai lan."

I never understood what makes a cultivar different from a species.

My understanding is that species delineates “breeding boundary lines” and cultivar are “pushed gene expressions”.

Take freshwater hobby shrimp. You can relatively quickly breed them to express certain colors (cultivar) but without some gene editing you can’t cross breed caridinia and neocaridinia (species).

And if you mix up the pushed color cultivars in a few generations they are very close to “wild type” again.

Such a shame that many cannot eat a lot of those plants because of their vitamin K content.

Would you mind expanding on that a bit? Is the vitamin k too high?

Some quick googling leads me down a kidney disease rabbit hole...which may not fully align with your statement.

Vitamin K cancels the effect of warfarin, which is the main blood thinner older people tend to get put on for various reasons. So eating vitamin-K rich foods ends up allowing blood clots to form

>cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, Savoy cabbage, kohlrabi, and gai lan

Ah, the gag me group.

I naturally find the smell of these cooking in the kitchen more repulsive than pure benzene in the lab.

I prefer a bit of prepared mustard myself.

Where is the cancer study that compares people who grew up with electric stoves vs gas stoves?

CH4 + 2O2 -> CO2 + 2H2O

Where's the benzene?

The gas piped into homes isn't 100% pure methane.

I'm sure there's a business opportunity here. Some snake-oil "gas filter".

Electric.

On which, compared to a gas range, cooking sucks total ass.

Induction seems pretty excellent to me, and any short comings are made up for by the ease of cleaning.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/28/climate/natural-gas-home-...

If only it were so simple. The article directly describes where the benzene comes from.

>The article directly describes where the benzene comes from.

Are you referring to:

>Last year the powerful trade group criticized a peer-reviewed study showing gas stoves leak benzene even when they are turned off.

Well, yeah, if you put benzene in the stove, I guess it's gonna leak benzene. Try methane for better results and not fill your cooking devices with cancer gas? This is user error, not the stove's fault.

From TFA:

"Benzene forms in flames and other high-temperature environments, such as the flares found in oil fields and refineries. We now know that benzene also forms in the flames of gas stoves in our homes," said Rob Jackson in a statement.

The instrumentation used does look groundbreaking and amazingly sensitive to benzene (also other trace toxins when targeted), calibration with known reference material looks excellent, with good correlation to established GC-MS, but there may not be complete data on possible false positive responses compared to GC-MS.

I've been a fan of Cavity Ring-Down for a couple decades, this demo might help bring the technique into some mainstream laboratories.

Wouldn't mind one of their units on the bench myself.

Also people should be aware benzene is a natural hydrocarbon found in various percentage amounts in oil reservoirs, much more present in the produced crude oil than the crude natual gas, but also often present in small amounts within the refined propane, butane, and other liquified petroleum gas products.

Mainly benzene is also present in almost all gasoline, but limited to 0.5% by volume since the clean air act of 1990.

The same news outlet that called East Palestine a "controlled burn" now wants me to worry about incomplete combustion products from gas stoves... seriously?

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/08/1155570564/east-palestine-ohi...

If I recall correctly, it had something to do with the manufacturing of the pipes used for gas stoves. I need to find the source.

I think you’re citing a theoretical reaction. Actual, likely is imperfect and creates the undesirable byproducts.

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