A Realistic Solution to Gas Stove Pollution
Gas stoves are a dangerous source of indoor air pollution. The Consumer Product Safety Commission won’t be banning them, but it can make them safer.
From Fox News to scientific journals to the White House briefing room, gas stoves are a hot topic. After alarming new research linked these stoves with childhood asthma, a federal official hinted at forthcoming regulations. Outcries have swiftly followed from Joe Manchin, congressional Republicans, and industry groups.
No policy to remove gas stoves from homes or restaurants is on the horizon, but after decades of mounting evidence on the dangers of gas stoves, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is finally proposing to explore new policies. The Commission has a number of options it could pursue. Based on the science and the CPSC’s mission, some kind of meaningful action is warranted.
Cooking with a gas stove produces high levels of fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, which can cause asthma in children, exacerbate respiratory conditions, and lead to a host of cardiac and other health harms. By some estimates, daily average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in homes with gas stoves are five times higher than recently updated air quality guidelines from the World Health Organization. In fact, indoor pollutant concentration can reach levels that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers unsafe outdoors, where air circulates freely and the wind can blow pollutants away. It’s so bad that a recent study found that over 12% of childhood asthma cases are attributable to gas stoves, and experts have compared gas stove emissions to second-hand smoke.
Gas stoves have also been linked to formaldehyde (a carcinogen) and chronic low-level carbon monoxide exposure. And earlier this summer, a new study found that leaked and incompletely combusted fossil gas from residential stove lines can add nasty pollutants like benzene to indoor air.
The CPSC clearly has authority over gas stoves. The Commission is tasked with addressing unreasonable risks from household products and it already regulates gas stoves for things like fire risks and deadly concentrations of carbon monoxide. To address health risks, the CPSC has a wide arsenal of regulatory options, including performance standards, warning labels, public education materials, and bans. Commissioner Richard Trumka recently stated that when it comes to action on gas stoves, “any option is on the table,” but the CPSC’s Chair, Alex Hoehn-Saric, has since clarified that he has no interest in an outright prohibition on the import or manufacture of new gas stoves.
The CPSC could set performance standards focused on preventing stove emissions from reaching dangerous levels. It could, for example, require that gas stoves be sold with range hoods that expel pollution outside.
Alternatively, the CPSC could require warning labels for gas stoves that indicate common pollutants, explain how dangerous they are to human health, and instruct consumers to seek adequate ventilation.
The Commission could also launch a public campaign to build consumer awareness about the dangers of gas stoves. Informed consumers would be better able to make wiser purchasing and ventilation choices for themselves and their families, such as taking advantage of rebates in the Inflation Reduction Act to switch out their gas stoves for electric or induction stoves. Those who prefer to stick with gas might choose to upgrade their range hood or at least use it more often.
And finally, if no other regulatory options prove sufficient to address the dangers of gas stoves, the Commission can consider a ban. Note that a ban would apply only to the sale of new appliances and would not entail removing existing gas stoves from people’s homes.
All of these actions would help reduce the harms of gas stoves. Unfortunately, the Commission has a pattern of dragging its feet on regulatory action. For example, it has been 25 years since the Commission identified specific carbon monoxide poisoning risks from gas furnaces, but stunningly it has yet to issue a standard addressing them. The CPSC similarly sat on concerns over strangulation risks from window coverings for 27 years, only releasing a mandatory standard this year. As for gas stoves, the Commission first inquired into the health hazards from unvented combustion sources in 1985, but hasn’t yet pushed for stronger standards.
This sluggish pace of regulation harms some of the most vulnerable groups in our society. Gas stove emissions are especially dangerous for children because of their size and lung development and because they breathe and run around more than adults. Low-income people and communities of color are more likely to already experience high pollution from other sources, and gas stove emissions add to this cumulative impact. Not to mention that low-income families are more likely to live in smaller homes (with less ventilation) or to use their gas ovens for heat, both dramatically increasing the potential for harm.
Weak regulation of gas stoves poses a threat to all Americans who use these appliances. For that reason, we should applaud the Commission’s recent efforts to look into gas stoves and support effective regulation. Nearly two generations after the CPSC first looked into the issue and after decades of mounting evidence on the harms from gas stove emissions, the time has come for the CPSC to take action.
By Laura A. Figueroa. Laura recently completed a fellowship at the Institute for Policy Integrity, where she worked on matters related to consumer protection, the environment, and administrative law. She co-authored a report on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s regulatory options for addressing gas stove pollution.
