Federal regulators are considering a ban on gas stoves as evidence continues mounting of their potential risks to human health. Richard Trumka, Jr., Consumer Product Safety Commissioner, told Bloomberg in an interview, “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.” “We need to be talking about regulating gas stoves, whether drastically reducing emissions or banning them entirely,” Trumka said at a consumer safety group last month. A ban “is a powerful tool in our toolbox, and it’s a real possibility here, mainly because there are other alternatives already in the market.
The CPSC will issue a request for information from consumers, industry groups, and other parties involved on alleviating the effects of gas stoves by March 2023, Trumka said in December 2022 in a talk before the Public Interest Research Group. Trumka’s statements come as more research has surfaced on the harmful effects of gas-burning stoves. A December study reported that 13% of childhood asthma cases nationwide could be attributed to the indoor use of gas stoves.
A previous study from a decade ago reported that a gas stove at home increased a child’s risk of asthma by a whopping 42%. Cooking on these stoves emits nitrous oxide and fine particulates, which can build up in minutes to unsafe levels, as the Environmental Protection Agency noted. These fine particulates have also been linked with higher rates of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, according to a research article from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this month.
