Combusting methane (natural gas) creates byproducts. Like any other chemical reaction, when natural gas is lit on fire, it reacts with the air and produces new chemical compounds. These include carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and other nitrogen–oxygen combinations, often referred to cumulatively as the NOx’s, formaldehyde, and volatile organic compounds.
NO2 worsens respiratory conditions. This includes asthma, and recent research found that homes with gas stoves have a 12.7% greater chance of having children with asthma.
CO is a known killer, because it binds with greater affinity to our blood’s albumen than oxygen (O2) does (a random fact from my college biology class that has stuck with me to this day). The result is that less oxygen gets to your muscles. This is why, when someone smokes a cigarette, it can calm them down — it literally deprives muscles of oxygen, and the muscles are forced to be less active as a result. Healthy? No … but effective in the short run to calm people down because of this mechanism. CO causes headaches, vertigo, nausea, and, yes, death, if there’s enough to truly deprive your blood’s albumen of oxygen such that none reaches your brain. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
