A simmering issue — New research shows gas stove emissions contribute to 19,000 deaths annually California is considering a law that would require warning labels on gas stoves.
Victoria St. Martin, Inside Climate News – May 19, 2024 11:31 am UTC EnlargeGza Blint Ujvrosi / EyeEm via Getty reader comments 300
Ruth Ann Norton used to look forward to seeing the blue flame that danced on the burners of her gas stove. At one time, she says, she would have sworn that preparing meals with the appliance actually made her a better cook.
But then she started learning about the toxic gasses, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and other harmful pollutants that are emitted by stoves into the air, even when theyre turned off.
Im a person who grew up cooking, and love that blue flame, said Norton, who leads the environmental advocacy group known as the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative. But people fear what they dont know. And what people need to understand really strongly is the subtle and profound impact that this is havingon neurological health, on respiratory health, on reproductive health.
In recent years, gas stoves have been an unlikely front in the nations culture wars, occupying space at the center of a debate over public health, consumer protection, and the commercial interests of manufacturers. Now, Norton is among the environmental advocates who wonder if a pair of recent developments around the publics understanding of the harms of gas stoves might be the start of a broader shift to expand the use of electrical ranges. Advertisement
On Monday, lawmakers in the California Assembly advanced a bill that would require any gas stoves sold in the state to bear a warning label indicating that stoves and ovens in use can release nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and benzene inside homes at rates that lead to concentrations exceeding the standards of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the United States Environmental Protection Agency for outdoor air quality.
The label would also note that breathing those pollutants can exacerbate preexisting respiratory illnesses and increase the risk of developing leukemia and asthma, especially in children. To help reduce the risk of breathing harmful gases, allow ventilation in the area and turn on a vent hood when gas-powered stoves and ranges are in use.
The measure, which moved the state Senate, could be considered for passage later this year.
Just running a stove for a few minutes with poor ventilation can lead to indoor concentrations of nitrogen dioxide that exceed the EPAs air standard for outdoors, Gail Pellerin, the California assembly member who introduced the bill, said in an interview Wednesday. Youre sitting there in the house drinking a glass of wine, making dinner, and youre just inhaling a toxic level of these gases. So, we need a label to make sure people are informed.
Pellerins proposal moved forward in the legislature just days after a group of Stanford researchers announced the findings of a peer-reviewed study that builds on earlier examinations of the public health toll of exposure to nitrogen dioxide pollution from gas and propane stoves. Page: 1 2 Next → reader comments 300 Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars
