Reports of outlawing gas stoves in the US 'overcooked'

"This is a hidden hazard," Trumka said in the interview on Monday.

"Any option is on the table. Products that can't be made safe can be banned." 

CPSC clarification  

Republican senators charged the Biden administration with wanting to restrict the use of gas stoves as soon as they heard Trumka's comments. 

He, however, tweeted later that he was talking about regulation on new products.

"To be clear, CPSC isn't coming for anyone's gas stoves," he wrote. "Regulations apply to new products."

The Commission has also stated that they do not wish to forbid gas stoves and that there are no active cases requiring their attention at this time, Associated Press (AP) reported on Friday. 

CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric issued a statement on Wednesday stating, "I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so."

Biden administration came under heavy criticism because of "overcooked fears" that it is considering outlawing gas stoves countrywide, said the AP report.

Where did outlawing gas stoves stem from? 

Trumka cited a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in December 2022 that connected indoor gas stove use to a higher risk of childhood asthma during his interview.

According to the study, gas stoves are used in around 35% of households overall, with utilization rates closer to 70% in California and Illinois.

According to the study, Illinois would have a greater reduction in childhood asthma than any other state in the nation if access to gas stoves were restricted. 

The results of the study showed that using gas stoves was responsible for over 13% of occurrences of pediatric asthma.

Other studies and data on the use of gas stoves 

According to Census data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, about 38% of households in the nation used natural gas for cooking as of 2020. 

However, there are significant geographical variations. About 60 to 70 percent of residents in four states—New Jersey, California, Illinois, and New York—use gas for cooking. In nine additional states, largely in the South, the ratio is below 20%. 

Nationwide, electricity continues to be the dominant energy source for cooking, according to a report by Energywire. 

According to the EIA, cooking accounts for 13% of all on-site greenhouse gas emissions from buildings in the U.S. Space heating is the source of 68% of emissions, while water heating accounts for 19%. 

Researchers from Stanford University conducted a study on methane leaks from gas stoves last year, and it found that the impact on global warming may be much more than previously thought—equivalent to the emissions of 500,000 cars.

Several environmental and clean energy organizations petitioned the Department of Housing and Urban Development in October to begin phasing out gas stoves and other fossil fuel appliances in public housing.  

They claimed that doing this would result in "dramatic improvements in health, safety, and well-being" for about 900,000 households.

Last April, researchers at the Institute for Policy Integrity released a report calling for gas stoves to be sold with warning labels and requirements for better ventilation while pointing to studies concluding that low-income households and people of color were more likely to live in homes with poor ventilation.

The Institute for Policy Integrity's researchers pointed to studies that found low-income households and people of color were more likely to live in homes with poor ventilation when they published a report last April calling for the sale of gas stoves with warning labels and specifications for better ventilation.