Exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from burning gas indoors is linked to 39,959 premature deaths in the EU and UK each year, according to researchers at Spain’s University Jaume I.

The figures are revealed in a study estimating the health impact and economic cost associated with exposure to NO2, a toxic gas emitted by gas cookers.

Around a third of European households use gas cookers at home. When in use, these indoor cookers emit NO2, as well as other pollutants, into the household.

The study also estimates that exposure to NO2 is linked to hundreds of thousands of paediatric asthma cases each year, with Italy, Poland, Romania, France and the UK among the worst-hit countries.

To create a map of NO2 concentration in European homes, the researchers combined existing real-world pollution measurements with government data on background NO2 concentrations.

They then applied these figures to established NO2 pollution risk rates to calculate the likely number of premature deaths in a year.

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