Stanford researchers recently claimed to have found a link between childhood respiratory illnesses and the use of gas stoves. [emphasis, links added]
The study, which was reported last week across multiple national news outlets, posed an interesting contrast to a study in February funded by the World Health Organization and published in The Lancet that found no such link and appeared to received no mention in any such outlet.
According to the study by Stanford researchers, which was published in Science, long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide emanating from gas stoves in a home could be responsible for 50,000 cases of childhood asthma.
“One appliance has come to the fore as a source of pollutants harmful to human health: the humble gas stove,” The New York Times wrote.
The Washington Post reported the study “adds to the growing body of evidence that shows cooking with a gas stove creates indoor air pollution that can be harmful to human health.”
The Guardian reported the results “also highlight the unequal racial and socioeconomic burden of exposure.”
Bloomberg, The Hill, E&E News, and NBC News also ran pieces about the study.
It was a different response to a study published in February in the Lancet that analyzed the results of 116 different studies, including randomized controlled trials, case-control studies, cohort studies, and cross-sectional studies.
The study compared health outcomes in the use of gas, wood charcoal, and electric stoves. The researchers found that the use of gas compared to wood or charcoal resulted in reductions in several respiratory illnesses.
Compared with electric stoves, the study found some increases in pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but higher-quality studies, the Lancet study found, showed no significant effects.
“In addition, a small increased risk of asthma in children was not significant … and no significant associations were found for adult asthma, wheeze, cough, and breathlessness…. A significant decreased risk of bronchitis was observed,” the researchers found.
Not a single mention of the study could be found in any of the news outlets that covered the [recent] study in Science finding a link between gas stoves and illnesses.
Research to policy
Different studies often produce different results, but when it comes to research into the impacts of fossil fuels, the research has influenced policies.
In 2023, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) produced a study that found as many as 650,000 cases resulted from the use of gas stoves in the home.
Less than a month after it was published, Bloomberg interviewed Consumer Public Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. about the alleged health impacts of gas stoves, asking if the commission would take action.
Trumka told Bloomberg, “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
The statement fueled the growing debate over banning gas stoves.
Multiple media outlets ran “fact checks” insisting that there was no plan to ban gas stoves. Fox News reported last month that the Biden administration even pressured the liberal fact-checking site Snopes to rate the claim as false.
In fact, while the Biden administration didn’t pursue an outright prohibition on gas stoves, the Department of Energy pursued energy efficiency standards that would, according to the American Gas Association, ban 40%-60% of all gas stoves on the market.
On top of the federal regulations were several state and local regulations that sought to restrict the use of natural gas indoors as well.
“The attempt at the gas stove ban is an attempt to reduce the popularity and the consumption of natural gas in order to make way for renewables,” Tom Shepstone, an energy expert who publishes “Energy Security and Freedom” on Substack, told Just The News.
The alarm over gas stoves, however, didn’t resonate with the public.
Top photo by KWON JUNHO on Unsplash
Read rest at Just The News
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I’m 75 and during my childhood, I was raised in a very small home that had town gas for cooking. That’s cook-top and oven. It wasn’t the nice clean gas we enjoy today, however my health (today) is as good as any 75 yo would want.
In the meantime, we have lived in three homes with cook-top gas covering around 20 years and both of us are in great shape.
So, I consider the health of my wife and I, both in our mid 70’s, to be proof that using gas in the home for cooking (and heating) is safe. To make it clear – gas needs to be respected because if not managed, it can burn your house down, so be safe.
The first home I lived in had Gas Cooktop and Gas Heater but a Separate Electric Oven and Water heater and when we had a Flood back in 1964/65 he Cooktop was out only source of Heat because we didn’t have the Heater Back Then