Gas stove manufacturers slam talk of a ban on the appliances

Gas stove manufacturers are feeling a little heated over a top federal regulator's proposal to ban the popular appliances to combat childhood asthma.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, a trade group representing appliance makers, noted that gas stoves are usually cheaper to operate than electric, arguing 'increased use of ventilation' is a better solution than a ban. 

'A ban on gas cooking appliances would remove an affordable and preferred technology used in more than 40 percent of homes across the country,' AHAM spokeswoman Jill Notini told DailyMail.com in a statement on Tuesday. 

'A ban would fail to address the overall concern of indoor air quality while cooking, because all forms of cooking, regardless of heat source, generate air pollutants, especially at high temperatures,' she said.

Notini added that 'a focus on increased use of ventilation is an effective solution to improve indoor air quality while cooking.' 

US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) official Richard Trumka Jr. called gas stoves a 'hidden hazard' and said a potential ban was under consideration

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, a trade group representing appliance makers, noted that gas stoves are usually cheaper to operate than electric

The uproar follows remarks on Monday from US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) official Richard Trumka Jr., who called gas stoves a 'hidden hazard' in an interview with Bloomberg News.

He added that 'any option is on the table' and 'products that can't be made safe can be banned.' Trumka later clarified that any ban, if one were imposed, would only apply to new products, not existing stoves.

Natural gas distributors also argue that a ban on natural gas stoves would drive up costs for homeowners and restaurants with little environmental gain.

The American Gas Association, for example, said that regulatory agencies have presented no documented evidence linking breathing problems to gas stoves.

'The US Consumer Product Safety Commission and EPA do not present gas ranges as a significant contributor to adverse air quality or hath hazard in their technical or public information literature, guidance or requirements,' Karen Harbert, the group's president, told Bloomberg.

'The most practical, realistic way to achieve a sustainable future where energy is clean, as well as safe, reliable and affordable, is to ensure it includes natural gas and the infrastructure that transports it.'

The debate over gas appliances has been percolating for several years, after some cities banned new homes and businesses from installing gas stoves in a bid to meet climate change goals.

In response, about 20 US states have passed laws forbidding their cities from passing such bans on gas appliances. 

The idea of a federal ban was first raised by Democratic lawmakers Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Dan Beyer, who sent a letter to the the CPSC urging it to take action after a study found that gas stoves were linked to higher cases of asthma.

Trumka Jr., a CPSC commissioner, clarified that potential regulations would only 'apply to new products' in a tweet Monday. 'CPSC isn't coming for anyone's gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products,' he added. 

Trumka added that people who choose to switch to electric stoves would receive an $840 rebate due to President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. 

CPSC is now expected to open a public comment period about the harms of gas ranges later this winter.

It could then decide whether to ban or more strictly regulate them as soon as this year. 

Nearly 13 per cent of asthma cases in children on average can be blamed on the toxins produced by gas ranges. That is considerably higher in several states for which data was available including California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania

The announcement comes on the heels of a new study that found roughly one in eight cases of childhood asthma in the US are the result of air pollution given off by gas stoves.

This puts emissions from gas cooking at the same asthma risk level as breathing in secondhand smoke.

Asthma affects roughly six million US children each year, and nearly 13 percent of them get it from breathing in the toxins that a gas stove gives off every day.

Findings from the team at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado suggest that the roughly 35 percent of American homes that use gas stoves should mitigate the spread of toxins like nitrogen dioxide and benzene by switching to an electric induction stove.

Their research is the latest installment in a growing body that shows the danger of having a gas stove in the home, which can also emit carcinogenic toxins that put people at risk of severe health effects.