Gas stove bans explained: Are natural gas stoves actually a 'hazard'? Why are they suddenly controversial?
Gas stoves bans have made the news as cooktops join M&Ms in becoming another unlikely subject of politicized controversy in the United States.
In recent weeks, gas stoves have been branded by some as a danger – to both public health and the planet – that need to be phased out. To others, that notion is ridiculous.
In reality, the controversy may be new, but the facts surrounding it are mostly well known.
On the health side, studies going back to the 1980s show unvented natural gas stoves can cause indoor air pollution harmful to young lungs. And climate change concerns have prompted some places to try to stop new gas lines from being run to new construction.
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Here's what to know about the gas stove controversy:
What kicked off this latest round of concern over gas stoves?
Cultural flare-ups around gas stoves have popped up in the news for the past several years. This latest round came on Jan. 9 when Richard Trumpka Jr., head of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said natural gas stoves are "a hidden hazard" and suggested unsafe products might be banned, a statement he later walked back.
That came at the same time about 100 cities or counties, and three states, are putting new building codes in place that either ban the installation of natural gas hookups in newly constructed homes and buildings or offer incentives for not doing so.
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Note this doesn't affect the majority of Americans. Most surveys show 35% to 40% of stoves in the United States use natural gas. Overall, natural gas is much less used in the Southeast, and it's most common in the West, Midwest and Northeast.
Are gas stoves bad for your health?
They can be. Poorly ventilated gas stoves can cause health hazards inside the home. A Harvard study published in June found natural gas contained varying levels of volatile organic chemicals and was more likely than realized to leak. A study in December found using a gas stove was associated with an increased risk of asthma among children.
Natural gas is methane. When burned, it produces small but detectable amounts of nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants. Exposure indoors – when there isn’t enough ventilation – is associated with more severe asthma.
The problem: Two-thirds to three-quarters of Americans seldom if ever turn on their stove's ventilation fans, said Rob Jackson, a professor of energy and the environment at Stanford University, who has been studying the topic for several years.
Even worse: Many homes and apartments either don't have adequate stove ventilation or have fans that simply recirculate the air through a filter, which doesn't remove the nitrogen oxide.
How can I make my gas stove safer?
Turn on your fan or open a window every time you use your stove.
"If you ventilate, you can dramatically reduce the emission down to levels that are very unlikely to cause substantial harm," said Dr. Aaron Bernstein, a pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital.
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Make sure the fan vents to the outside, not just a filter that blows back into the kitchen.
Children who lived in homes that always used ventilation when their gas stove was on were 36% less likely to be diagnosed with asthma, said Molly Kile, an environmental epidemiologist at Oregon State University.
If you don't have a fan, open a window or a door when cooking, Bernstein said.
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Are gas stoves bad for climate change?
Yes. And that's a big reason there's an effort in some areas to phase out natural gas from new buildings.
Natural gas has been the fastest-rising fossil fuel over the past decade as it largely replaced coal. Though it produces less carbon dioxide than coal, burning methane is still nowhere near carbon-neutral.
"Burning natural gas contributed 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution a year," Jackson said.
Carbon dioxide and methane are the primary greenhouse gases that are causing climate change.
Jackson's research found that the 40 million gas stoves in the United States annually produce pollution equivalent to the tailpipe emissions of 500,000 cars.
Natural gas bans: Where and why
"Gas stove bans" primarily references the effort to stop new construction from being piped for natural gas, not removing existing stoves.
That is meant to help wean the country from fossil fuels. A new building piped for natural gas means decades more fossil fuel use, just when the country is trying to move away from such fuels and toward all-electric construction.
"No one is barging into homes and ripping gas stoves out of people's kitchens," Jackson said.
California: 73 cities and counties have adopted building codes that require new residential and commercial buildings to be built all-electric. Some of them have carve-outs for commercial kitchens so they can continue to use methane-burning stoves.
Elsewhere in the U.S.: Another 26 cities and three states – Maryland, Colorado and Washington – have building codes either in place or scheduled that will require new construction to be all-electric.
Backlash – a ban on bans: There's an effort being led in part by the natural gas industry to preemptively ban these building codes. Twenty states have passed such legislation, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gas stove bans in US: What is the controversy over health, climate
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