I think often about one of my patients, a 7-year-old Latino child. No matter how much I adjusted or maximized medication or identified asthma triggers, my patient had trouble breathing and kept landing in the emergency room. Finally, after asking more about my patient’s home environment, I realized that the child was being affected by pollution from the family’s gas stove. Not only was it putting my patient in the hospital, but the child’s grandparents kept suffering from respiratory infections too. Sadly, this family is not alone.
Here are the estimated health and financial burdens caused by exposure to pollution from gas stoves: 19,000 annual deaths, 200,000 cases of pediatric asthma and $1 billion in societal costs.
Whether on or off, fossil fuels in appliances — which are found in more than 80% of Cook County households — emit a dangerous cocktail of toxic pollutants and carcinogens, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and formaldehyde. These pollutants have been linked to heart disease, respiratory illness, blood cancer, and even cognitive and behavioral issues.
As a Chicago-based allergist, I’ve witnessed the devastating impact gas appliances and heating equipment can have on a person’s quality of life, especially the most vulnerable. For more than a decade, I’ve treated children with exacerbated cases of asthma and adults who have trouble breathing because of the air around them. Much of my time is spent educating and breaking down barriers to care for underresourced communities, especially since Black and Latino households breathe in 20% more nitrogen dioxide indoors from gas stoves than the national average.
My experiences treating patients, and the alarming data, make me believe that Chicago must transition away from burning gas in homes and buildings. Further delays endanger the health and well-being of our city’s children, families and residents. They also force families, especially low-income ones, to spend hard-earned money at the emergency room or doctor’s office for entirely preventable illnesses.
As advocates realize the harms caused by burning gas, a growing nationwide movement seeks to protect public health, air quality and our climate. Chicago has the chance to join that movement by passing the Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance (CABO), which would require newly constructed buildings to be built all-electric and pollution-free, cleaning up our indoor air.
Installing electric ranges such as induction cooking technology yields a significant reduction in indoor air pollution, decreasing nitrogen dioxide by 51% in the kitchen and 42% in the bedroom. This is especially important for families living in smaller housing, who breathe even greater pollution concentrations indoors. And the benefits aren’t just for indoor air. CABO would also reduce outdoor air pollution from Chicago’s buildings, leading to healthier air with less nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and smog that is so often devastating to my patients’ health.
In Cook County, fossil fuel appliances in buildings actually contribute more smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution than all of the diesel vehicles in the county. In Cook County alone, pollution from buildings leaves a big footprint on our health, driving 120,000 asthma attacks, 60,000 lost days of school and work and total health impacts valued at $4 billion every year.
Those who have met me know how much I love all things Chicago. My entire life has been spent in this city; I was born and raised here, completed my education here and still serve this special community. Over the years, I’ve seen ways Chicago has transformed for the better, and the incredible growth of the city is something all of us should be proud of.
But as always, work remains to ensure our city is a healthy and safe haven for everyone. If we continue to rely on gas-burning appliances and heating equipment when better, more affordable alternatives are available, we will make our residents sicker and burden them with higher health bills.
CABO is our opportunity to deliver a cleaner, healthier future for Chicagoans. An opportunity for my patients to finally find some relief. An opportunity that we cannot let pass. I urge members of the City Council to take swift action to pass the Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance.
Dr. Juanita Mora is a Chicago-based allergist.
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