Slaving over a gas cooker in a stuffy modern kitchen could expose you to higher levels of toxic pollutants than walking through a smog-filled city centre, new research suggests.
Indoor air pollution, which can be three times more noxious than traffic-choked streets, is being made worse by draft-free energy efficient homes, air fresheners and strong cleaning products, scientists found.
Sheffield University researchers compared three homes for the study, which they said was one of the first of its kind to focus on the risks of indoor pollution.
One was a stone-built detached house with an electric cooker in Hathersage, a village about 10 miles west of Sheffield in the Peak District National Park.
The other two properties were flats with gas cookers in Sheffield, one in the city centre and the other above a shop next to a busy road.
The scientists took air quality samples from outside and inside the homes over a four-week period.
