Groups, experts welcome possible US ban on new gas stoves

Climate and public health advocates on Tuesday welcomed comments by a federal official teasing a potential ban on new gas stoves amid a growing body of peer-reviewed research warning that the appliances threaten the warming planet and human health.

In response to Bloomberg‘s reporting Monday on a possible ban from U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), author and End Climate Silence founding director Genevieve Guenther tweeted that “this would be a wonderful development.”

Jose-Luis Jimenez, a University of Colorado Boulder chemistry professor, said in a series of tweets Tuesday that gas stoves “are terrible for indoor pollution” and a ban on the sale of new ones “would be a great win” for indoor air quality.

“Electric induction cooks as well as gas and is much more energy efficient,” he noted, suggesting that the latter appliances are still around because of “the pervasive influence” of the fossil fuel industry—which has aggressively campaigned against efforts to outlaw gas stoves at the state and local level.

“People are misinformed and easily manipulated by the powerful fossil fuel industry. And they are exposing their kids (which don’t have a choice) to toxic pollutants,” Jimenez said. “Gas stoves should be BANNED, just as asbestos or lead paint.”

The advocacy group Food & Water Watch said Tuesday that “we have the technology for safer options, like electric stoves—it’s time to use them!”

In a pair of tweets highlighting the dangers posed by the gas appliances, Greenpeace declared, “Turn the burners off.”

Bloomberg reported that the CPSC “plans to take action to address the pollution” from gas stoves and a ban is “on the table” given recent findings—including a study published last month in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health tying the appliances to 12.7% of childhood asthma across the United States.

The study points out that “the proportion of childhood asthma that could be theoretically prevented if gas stove use was not present… varied by state (Illinois = 21.1%; California = 20.1%; New York = 18.8%; Massachusetts = 15.4%; Pennsylvania = 13.5%).”

The CPSC is under pressure to act from not only researchers and campaigners but also some federal lawmakers, who—led by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.)—wrote to the commission chair last month that over a third of American households cook with gas stoves, which “emit high levels of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.