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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is considering plans to regulate and possibly ban natural gas stoves, agency commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg in an interview, citing pollutants which have been linked to childhood asthma and other respiratory problems.
“Any option is on the table,” Trumka said, describing the pollutants as a “hidden hazard.”
A recent study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that nearly 13% of current childhood asthma in the U.S. is attributable to the use of indoor gas stoves.
Other studies have found gas stoves emit air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter at levels deemed unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
At least 35% of U.S. homes use gas stoves, including 70% in some states including California and New Jersey.
In her state of the state address Tuesday, Governor Kathy Hochul proposed to make New York the first state to ban the use of natural gas in new buildings as a way to fight climate change.
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Separately, U.S. natural gas futures plunged Tuesday to their lowest since December 2021.
