Cancer-causing chemical found to be leaking from gas cookers

Many people in Europe may be exposed to dangerous chemicals as a result of slow leaks from gas cookers or ovens. Nearly 10 per cent of homes tested in the UK, Netherlands and Italy had leaks large enough to exceed exposure limits for the cancer-causing chemical benzene. “It’s akin to living with a smoker,” says Drew Michanowicz at the research institute PSE Healthy Energy in Oakland, California. “Secondhand smoke creates a similar level of benzene indoors.” Advertisement Besides methane,...