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Embargoed new report: Doctors warn of gas health risks and call for urgent phase-out

Doctors for the Environment Australia

WHAT:  Launch of Gas and its overlooked health risks, a report from Doctors for the Environment Australia, followed by a press conference

Please note: This report is embargoed until 16 September

WHEN: Wednesday 16 September 2026

WHERE: 

10:30 am: Main Committee Room, Australian Parliament House 

11:30 am: Press conference/photo opportunity, Southern wall of Mural Hall, where DEA Executive Director and GP Dr Kate Wylie and approx a dozen doctors will call for an urgent phase out of fossil gas.

LAUNCH HOSTS: The launch of the report will be hosted by Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Kate Thwaites MP, with remarks by Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson MP.

Doctors for the Environment Australia is calling on the Albanese government to phase out fossil gas and rule out new gas developments, as mounting evidence reveals the serious health risks of this fuel – from extraction to its use in homes and workplaces and its contribution to accelerating climate change.

 

The call comes as DEA today launches Gas and its overlooked health risks, a report which brings together the latest national and international evidence of the health harms associated with gas across its lifecycle. 

DEA Executive Director and GP Dr Kate Wylie says Australians have been misled for too long by the gas industry’s marketing of gas as ‘natural’, ‘clean’ and ‘safe’. 

“Our community deserves to know that this narrative is false. Gas is not clean or safe – it can harm our health at every stage of its lifecycle,” Dr Wylie says. 

“The government cannot continue to ignore  the health risks of expanding our reliance on fossil gas. We need a clear plan to phase-out this polluting fuel and support households and businesses to transition to clean energy, such as solar and wind.”

Gas is mainly methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. Methane is released throughout the gas supply chain, including extraction, transport and distribution.

Climate change is already harming the health of Australians through more severe heatwaves, bushfires, droughts and storms, worsening air quality, increasing heat-related deaths, while threatening food and water security, changing patterns of infectious disease and placing increasing pressure on Australia's health system, such as GP clinics and emergency departments.

The devastating flooding of Nepal, deadly heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere and record-breaking heat in parts of Australia this winter are further reminders of the worsening impacts of a warming climate. 

“Every fraction of a degree of additional warming increases risks to human health. Continuing to expand fossil gas use at this point is simply not compatible with protecting Australians and people everywhere,” Dr Wylie says.

The report also details the direct health risks from gas in our homes and workplaces. 

Gas releases harmful pollutants, particularly nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, including cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde, and fine particles that are small enough to be breathed into the lungs. 

Gas cooking is associated with a significant burden of childhood asthma. It is estimated that 12.3% of childhood asthma in Australia may be attributable to gas cooking alone, or roughly one in eight children. Studies indicate that children living in homes with gas cooking have a 42% higher risk of current asthma, defined as asthma with symptoms or treatment in the previous 12 months. 

In homes and workplaces, fossil gas is associated with respiratory illness, including the development and exacerbation of asthma. Gas extraction and processing affects air and water quality and has been associated with an increased risk of cardiac and respiratory disease, childhood leukaemia and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

“Governments must not delay action on major public health hazards,” Dr Wylie says.

“Australia has acted before to reduce exposure to dangerous pollutants when the evidence showed that the risks were unacceptable. Fossil gas should be no different.

“As doctors, we urge our government to quit gas for our health.”

DEA is calling on the Australian Government to:

• Establish a clear timeline for phasing out fossil gas and rule out approving new gas projects

• Provide targeted support to the community to replace gas appliances and disconnect from the gas network

• Make the gas industry bear the costs of the health and environmental harms of its product.

The launch of the report will be hosted by Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Kate Thwaites MP, with remarks by Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson MP.

 

About DEA

Doctors for the Environment Australia is the leading medical voice on health and climate. Our members are based in every State and Territory and include GPs, surgeons, physicians, anaesthetists, psychiatrists, paediatricians, public health specialists, medical students and researchers.

 

–ENDS–

Contact details:

Carmela Ferraro, Media and Communications Lead, Doctors for the Environment Australia - 0410 703 074 | [email protected]