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A federal agency is considering banning gas stoves over concerns about indoor pollution linked to rising asthma among children, Bloomberg first reported.
A U.S. consumer product safety commissioner has said using Bloomberg’s gas stoves is a “hidden risk.”
“Every option is on the table. Products that cannot be secured can be banned,” agency commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said in an interview with Bloomberg. The report said the agency plans “ to take action” to address indoor pollution caused by stoves. CNN has reached out to CPSC for comment.
The CPSC has been considering action on gas stoves for months. Trumka recommended in October that the CPSC seek public comment on the dangers associated with gas stoves. Pollutants have been linked to asthma and worsening respiratory conditions.
A December 2022 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that indoor gas stove use is associated with an increased risk of current asthma in children. The study found that nearly 13% of current childhood asthma cases in the United States are attributable to gas stove use.
Trumka told Bloomberg that the agency plans to open public comment on the dangers of gas stoves. Options in addition to a ban include “establishing device emission standards”.
Thirty-five percent of households in the United States use a gas stove, and the number is approaching 70% in some states like California and New Jersey. Other studies have shown that these stoves emit significant levels of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and fine particulates – which, without proper ventilation, can raise indoor concentration levels to dangerous levels, as Judge the EPA.
“Short-term exposure to NO2 is linked to worsening of asthma in children, and long-term exposure has been determined to be likely to cause the development of asthma,” said a group of lawmakers in a letter to President Alexander Hoehn-Saric, adding that it can also aggravate cardiovascular disease.
The letter – Senator Corey Booker and Senator Elizabeth Warren among its signatories – argued that black, Latino and low-income households are more likely to be affected by these adverse effects because they are more likely to live in close proximity from a waste incinerator or coal ash site or in a poorly ventilated home.
In a statement to CNN, the CPSC said the agency has not proposed any regulatory action on gas stoves at this time, and any regulatory action “would involve a lengthy process.”
“Agency staff plan to begin collecting data and public views on the potential hazards associated with gas stoves and proposing solutions to those hazards later this year,” the commission said in a statement. communicated. “Commission staff also continue to work with voluntary standards bodies to review emissions from gas cookers and address potential hazards.”
Some cities in the United States have banned natural gas connections in all new building construction to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – Berkeley in 2019, San Francisco in 2020, New York in 2021. But last February, 20 states with GOP-controlled legislatures passed so-called “pre-emption laws” that prohibit cities from banning natural gas.
“To me, that’s what’s interesting about this new trend, it seems like states are trying to eliminate this possibility before cities try to seize it,” Sarah Fox, associate professor of science, told CNN. law at the Northern Illinois University School of Law. “The natural gas industry… was very aggressive in pushing this through.
In a statement to CNN Business, the Appliance Manufacturers Association said improved ventilation is the key to preventing indoor air pollution while cooking.
“A ban on gas cooking appliances would remove an affordable and preferred technology used in more than 40% of homes across the country,” industry spokeswoman Jill Notini said in a statement. “A ban on cooking with gas would not address the global concern for indoor air quality during cooking, as all forms of cooking, regardless of heat source, generate air pollutants, particularly at high temperatures.”
The American Gas Association pushed back on a natural gas ban in a December blog post, saying it made housing more expensive because “electric homes require expensive retrofits.”
However, Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act includes a rebate of up to $840 for an electric stove or other electrical appliances, and up to $500 to help cover the costs of converting to gas electricity.
– CNN’s Ella Nilsen contributed to this report.
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