Even a cursory read through recent studies linking natural-gas appliances to health hazards would uncover fundamental if not disqualifying flaws.
Even a cursory read through recent studies linking natural-gas appliances to health hazards would uncover fundamental if not disqualifying flaws.
S eemingly out of nowhere, the gas stove has become front-page news. But this was no random coincidence. The full-court press to scare people about a perfectly safe kitchen appliance found in nearly 40 percent of U.S. homes and a ubiquitous feature of restaurants nationwide has been years in the making and is part of a carefully cultivated campaign.
What appeared to spark the uproar was a comment from Richard Trumka Jr., who was nominated by President Biden in 2021 to serve as a commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Earlier this month, he told the media that a ban on gas stoves was “on the table.” The comments generated a firestorm of pushback coast to coast, forcing the head of the CPSC to run damage control and say that they are not planning to ban gas stoves.
As it turns out, Trumka Jr. had floated the bizarre idea of a ban months earlier at a CPSC meeting, but quickly pulled his request due to lack of support.
Before we get into what led to the commissioner’s comments, let’s examine where mainstream science is on gas stoves and indoor air quality.
The largest analysis of any possible link between gas stoves and childhood asthma found “no evidence of an association between the use of gas as a cooking fuel and either asthma symptoms or asthma diagnosis.” The 2013 study incorporated data from more than 500,000 children worldwide. Over the past decade, several studies have also examined this issue. They rarely made news because their findings have more or less reaffirmed what we already know. Although one of the most consistent conclusions concerns the importance of proper ventilation, including the use of range hoods, this is true of both gas and electric stoves. Essentially, the studies show that it is safer to use stoves according to manufacturer recommendations — not exactly a clickbait headline.
Even less-than-perfect ventilation makes a big difference. A 2018 study from researchers in North America found that peak emissions of nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves were just 15 parts per billion (ppb) when using the least-effective ventilation fan. That’s considerably lower than the 100 ppb National Ambient Air Quality Standard for short-term exposure, which itself assumes an average exposure, not just a peak event.
Moreover, research shows that what you cook accounts for the vast majority of emissions. Cooking with olive oil generates 17 times more emissions of fine particulate matter than what comes from the gas stove alone. Cooking meats and vegetables also results in emissions levels several times higher than what could be traced to the blue flame.
In other words, even if you mandated an expensive shift from gas to electric, you wouldn’t be addressing the most significant sources of emissions in the kitchen: food. Perhaps the CPSC will consider banning home cooking entirely.
So, what is this “growing body of research” that supposedly links gas stoves to negative health impacts? Several studies in recent years have attracted headlines, but their methods were suspect at best and far from representative of a real kitchen. They also all have links to environmental groups trying to ban fossil fuels in favor of a full electrification policy.
Take, for instance, this 2020 study from researchers at UCLA. They claimed to link gas stoves to asthma, but they used a model that assumed no ventilation. They also used the wrong metrics, comparing moment-in-time peak concentrations to a longer-term averaged standard. Dr. Dan Tormey of Catalyst Environmental reviewed the report and determined it was “not appropriate nor realistic.” Tormey added that “had the UCLA Report made the correct comparisons, it would have concluded that there are no health impacts from indoor use of natural gas appliances.” Notably, the study was funded by the anti-fossil fuel Sierra Club, which the authors fully disclosed.
In January 2022, researchers at Stanford University published a similar study claiming the “climate and health impacts of natural gas stoves are greater than previously thought.” In the acknowledgments the researchers thanked a staffer from RMI, one of the leading environmental organizations calling for ending the use of residential natural gas, for her “insights and suggestions.” Like the UCLA report that preceded it, the analysis was based on an environment without ventilation: The authors created an “airtight portion of the room,” and “clear plastic sheets were sealed along the ceiling, walls, and floor.”
It should go without saying that an “airtight” kitchen encased in plastic sheets is not representative of any real-world kitchen.
More recently, a study from researchers at RMI concluded that a significant number of U.S. cases of childhood asthma could be attributed to gas stoves. The headlines that accompanied it were similar to what the Washington Post published: “Gas stove pollution causes 12.7% of childhood asthma, study finds.”
Once again, the limitations were significant. Out of more than 300 studies since 2013 that the authors identified, they selected fewer than 30 that they deemed “potentially pertinent” to use in building their analysis, but they did not disclose all the studies they selected. Furthermore, as the American Gas Association observed, the authors “conducted no measurements or tests based on real-life appliance usage.”
After days of scrutiny, one of the lead authors admitted that the study “does not assume or estimate a causal relationship” between childhood asthma and gas-stove use.
The prevailing narrative in the media is that “mounting evidence” is linking gas stoves to health hazards. But that conclusion is only possible if you ignore the most comprehensive study on the topic and believe that airtight, unventilated kitchens are representative of how anyone cooks.
Moreover, the researchers themselves often are recommending more practical solutions than bans. The authors of the 2020 UCLA report — which advocates are using to push for bans — recently “emphasized the importance of good ventilation,” according to the Los Angeles Times, which added that “subsidies for range hoods might improve indoor air quality more effectively than a gas stove ban.”
If the evidence behind this latest health scare seems suspect, that’s because it is. Many environmentalists who want to ban fossil fuels appear more concerned about driving headlines than getting the facts right. Ultimately, for them, it’s about convincing cities, states, and counties to prevent families and small business owners from having any access to natural gas for their stoves, ovens, clothes dryers, water heaters, and furnaces.
In 2019, a staffer at RMI wrote in the New York Times that “until people are convinced there are superior alternatives to gas stoves, we will not be able to get rid of gas lines to buildings.” This is why you’re not only seeing wild claims about your gas stove but also a deliberate push toward electric induction cooking.
Fact checkers and news outlets have gone to great lengths to assure us that no federal ban on gas stoves is on the table. But that’s a red herring. While federal officials declare no interest in a ban, several local governments are going full speed ahead with bans, code updates that effectively prohibit gas, and other restrictions — often with the encouragement of the White House itself.
The same week the White House explicitly stated that President Biden does not support banning gas stoves, a city councilman in Denver called for expanding the city’s gas phase-out in buildings to single-family homes and residences. Governor Kathy Hochul of New York also rolled out a climate plan that calls for banning gas stoves by the end of the decade. And environmental groups like RMI have convinced nearly 100 cities and counties to phase out natural gas in homes or buildings. Indeed, the more they can force a conversation about health risks, the easier it will be to convince more local governments to impose bans.
All of this provides a teachable moment. Even a cursory read through recent studies linking natural-gas appliances to health hazards would uncover fundamental if not disqualifying flaws. Yet those details were all too often downplayed, dismissed, or omitted entirely in media coverage. In effect, that only advanced the cause of ban proponents trying to sow doubt about the safety of gas stoves.
Americans clearly do not support banning gas stoves, but with the campaign to advance those bans ramping up and pressuring local governments, the truth is needed more than ever — and the stakes could not be higher.