Having only cooked on radiant electric and gas, I gotta say I prefer the experience of cooking on gas, but not by enough to accept the documented risks, even if they are small. I hope at some point I'll be able to have an induction range top as my primary.

How lomg does boiling water with a good kettle take? It takes like 60s to boil water for me.

I'm not even sure I would call it "low income households", more like "older building/houses". Plenty of expensive apartment units are in old buildings (I'm looking at you NYC) without proper ventilation.

I own a unit in a co-op in a building that is over 100 years old. I have a gas stove. There is a vent on my above-range microwave but it's just a filter that blows it back into the room. I do a lot of cooking. I'm in danger.

With proper ventilation you can do everything, you can work with hazardous gases and nuclear materials, if the ventilation is sufficient.

Gas stoves without extraction are also a lot more likely to use a liquefied gas fuel (i.e. bottled butane/propane) rather than a plumbed in utility gas mains (typically methane) which makes a big difference in particulate emissions during combustion

Very few residences have proper ventilation. In the US, a microwave above the stove is common. Microwave often do have a fan function, but the vast majority don't vent outdoors. I doubt that running air through a very thin filter will do much good.

Even charcoal grills inside are fine with proper ventilation. So you're right, but your also not saying very much.

Photons cause cancer so I guess I may as well do nothing at all.

I mean... paying for shit you damaged during your stay is kind of the point of a security deposit.

Bartender's Friend or Pink Stuff should take it right off.

I legit used car polish once to clean my electric glass stovetop

Works fine as long as you work it by hand and wipe the residue off with a wet rag

One thing I like about gas stoves is the ones with sealed burners are a hell of a lot easier to get clean-looking than the glass tops of electric stoves. They get nasty so quick I prefer the old-style coil ones.

For your problem I'd try soaking a paper towel in CLR cleaner. It's probably lime from the water and not salt.

Magic eraser might be worth a shot. Melamine foam is the generic name for it and you can get a ton of it cheap. It destroys stains easily. Even if it doesn't handle the burner stains I highly recommend it for cleaning around the house anyway.

I've used a razor for really stuck on bits on our glass top stove, but this cleaner also seems to do quite well: https://weiman.com/glass-cooktop-cleaner-polish

For the razor, keep it at a shallow angle (I tend to go around 20 or 30 degrees above the stovetop), and keep a small amount of water on the surface. I usually have a damp rag that I wipe the razor and stovetop with occasionally during the scraping process, to remove the small pieces that come off.

Also, if you are nervous about damaging the stovetop itself, maybe try something only lightly abrasive and warm water, and let the water work it's magic. (I see you have already tried this, so maybe that isn't helpful :/ ) From a chemistry perspective, salt water shouldn't exactly leave behind an insoluble residue, but IDK what else was cooking in the water.

BarTenders friend is really the best for everything in the kitchen, but leaving some CLR on it overnight should break it down enough to clean up with a warm sponge. Calcium is probably the white stuff.

Nothing stopping you from using diluted lye / oven cleaner and wiping it off, just be very sure you take the necessary precautions. Do not breathe that shit in or let it get on your skin.

One cause of cancer like this probably won’t be visible on a national scale, too many other factors come into play that will muddy the data

However, it’s not “idk”, the current science on gas stoves being bad for your health is quite clear. Not just cancer, but also for other lung-related issues like asthma: https://www.cancercenter.com/community/blog/2024/09/are-gas-stoves-bad-for-your-health

I love my induction hob for all the reasons you mention. It is by far the best hob I've used - much better than gas - and I cook a lot. The only slight downside is ensuring you have the right pans, but they're widely available. My enamelled cast iron casserole pot works a treat.

As other people have said, induction is alright. Way better than traditional electric anyway.