Give Us Gas Stoves Or Give Us Death! Maybe Even Both!

Republicans (and Joe Manchin) react pretty much as you'd expect.

Your beloved gas stove is possibly killing you and your family. Bummer.

Monday, Richard Trumka Jr. from the US Consumer Product and Safety Commission told Bloomberg that a ban on gas stoves is "on the table" because of their documented link to respiratory illness, cancer, and childhood asthma. Yes, your gas stove offers superior temperature control and looks better in a "chef's kitchen," but those are serious health conditions.

 Mother Jones reported that "about one in eight cases of asthma in children in the United States is due to the pollution given off by cooking on gas stoves." Gas stoves leak methane gas even when not actively in use, and studies show "the emission of toxic chemicals and carcinogens from gas stoves, even when they are turned off, is creating a miasma of indoor pollution that can be several times worse than the pollution experienced outdoors from car traffic and heavy industry."

“This is a hidden hazard,” Trumka Jr. said. “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”

 Gas stoves are technically more efficient than their electric counterparts. The burners and oven heat up much faster. (Quick stump for induction cooktops here, which boil your water so fast Kevin McCarthy would've only lost two speaker votes during that time.) Natural gas is also cheaper than electricity in many states, offering an overall savings of 10 to even 30 percent in energy costs when cooking with gas. Or it did at least; it's gone up ... a lot! That's not chump change. Of course, cancer and childhood asthma are not ideal trade-offs.

According to Brady Seals, manager of the carbon free buildings program at RMI, gas stoves potentially cause a similar amount of asthma as second hand smoking, which she considers "eye popping" (and presumably lung-clogging).

“We knew this was a problem but we didn’t know how bad," Seals said. "[A new study] shows that if we got rid of gas stoves we would prevent 12.7 percent of childhood asthma cases, which I think most people would want to do.”

But do we really want to drastically reduce childhood asthma cases at the cost of our gas stoves or is this just hippie talk?

 Giphy 

 An estimated 40 percent of US households have a gas stove, and the CPSC has clarified that there's no official plan to ban them. However, its staff "plans to start gathering data and perspectives from the public on potential hazards associated with gas stoves, and proposed solutions to those hazards later this year.” It's a "lengthy process," but nonetheless certain politicians didn't pause to catch their breath before railing against government overreach.

Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson from Texas tweeted, "I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!"

This man is a medical doctor.

You know, maybe the "maniac" here is the person who freaks out over his gas stove like a culinary Gollum sweetly caressing the cooktop.

Twitter 

Everyone's favorite fossil fuel defender, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin from West Virginia, also weighed in Tuesday. Responding to the Bloomberg article that suggested CPSC would simply "consider" a ban, Manchin tweeted, "This is a recipe for disaster." (See what he did there?) "The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner. I can tell you the last thing that would ever leave my house is the gas stove that we cook on."

I now picture an unhinged Manchin, after forcibly expelling his loved ones from the house, locked in a passionate embrace with his gas stove. As long as they're together, that's all that matters.

Manchin went on to threaten the CPSC for its heresies against natural gas: "If this is the greatest concern that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has for American consumers, I think we need to reevaluate the commission."

Republican Rep. Gary Palmer from Alabama warned that this "type of power should never have been given to unelected bureaucrats and it is time for it to end." Trumka Jr. patiently responded, "To be clear, CPSC isn't coming for anyone's gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products. For Americans who CHOOSE to switch from gas to electric, there is support available — Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which includes a $840 rebate."

See, you're still free to give your children asthma or cancer while searing the hell out of a good steak, just like the founders wanted.

[ Mother Jones ]

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