Yves here. One of my conservative friends gets extremely agitated on the topic of a gas stove ban. She fulminates that the stereotypical CNN/MSNBC watcher who supports this restriction eats out often and hasn’t worked out that banning gas stoves would also end restaurants as we know them (and no, she just about never dines out)
Interestingly, far more people object to a gas stove ban than actually have them. Only about 30% of US homes have one.
My gas stove defender isn’t completely opposed to a curb but points even to the studies supporting the regulatory change that show its impact on climate change is so small as to be debatable. She wants action against much more serious offenders first, starting with the US military.
However, the argument for the gas stove ban is mainly about health risks. Since there are parts of the US with high levels of gas stove use, such as New York, New Jersey, and California. it ought to be possible to firm up the thesis with population-level and workplace (restaurant) studies. I find the concern about benzene levels from gas stoves to be hypocritical. I have yet to see anyone worried about health risks of benzene exposure to nail salon workers, where the fumes can be so thick that you feel them in your trachea.
The other question I have yet to see addressed is what it would take in the way of better ventilation to reduce the benzene hazard to safer levels.
By Irina Slav, a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. Originally published at OilPrice
A majority of 69% of Americans are against a ban on gas stoves, a poll conducted by the Harvard Center for American Political Studies and Harris.
The poll covered a number of topics spanning from approval of institutions to top concerns, but it also included a question on the gas stove ban, to which most respondents answered in the negative.
The issue has become quite heated recently after a study came out earlier this year suggesting a link between gas stove use and asthma. At the time, a commissioner at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said that CPSC had been considering a ban on gas stoves for months. The statement was promptly denied by the head of the CPSC.
However, other authorities took up the gas stove ban idea and New York recently became the first state to pass legislation that would ban the installation of gas stoves in new buildings due to the perceived harms of using them.
There are also several cities across the U.S. with gas bans in place although Palo Alto recently made an exception for a celebrity chef planning to open a restaurant in town.
The Harvard/Harris poll suggests a majority of Americans have similar feelings to chef Jose Andres when it comes to gas stoves. The sentiment was especially marked among Republicans, unsurprisingly.
As much as 83% of GOP respondents were opposed to a gas stove ban versus 55% of Democrats. Yet opposition to a ban was also pronounced among respondents without party affiliations: 71% of them were against a ban.
Meanwhile, the pressure campaign against gas stoves continues. Media reported this week on a new study that claims it had found that gas stoves emit a carcinogenic chemical—benzene—in concentrations higher than its concentrations in cigarette smoke. The implication appears to be that using a gas stove may be even more dangerous than second-hand smoke.