HJBC/iStock via Getty Images
The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted this week to seek public input on the dangers of gas stoves, a possible first step toward implementing certain safety standards or other regulations governing their use.
The agency he said he has without regulations or prohibitions in the worksbut such a Request for Information, from the appliance and energy industries, scientists, and medical professions, as well as the general public, is the initial step by a federal agency on the path toward possible imposition of new rules.
“Chronic hazards that can arise from toxic emissions must be studied, and that’s what we’re doing with this RFI,” CPSC Chairman Alexander Hoehn-Saric said, adding that any regulatory action would require a CPSC vote. full committee, “which has not expressed support for any regulation.
Gas stoves, used in 40% of US homes, emit certain air pollutants at levels considered unsafe by the Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization.
The American Gas Association has said that research does not prove that gas stoves increase the likelihood of childhood asthma and that keeping natural gas in a mixed US energy portfolio helps reduce costs for consumers.
Nearly 100 US cities and counties have already adopted policies restricting their use or are beginning to phase them out in new construction.
ETFs: (NYSEARCA:UNG), (UGAZF), (BOIL), (KOLD), (UNL), (FCG)
Earlier this year, CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka floated the idea of a possible ban on gas stoves, drawing strong criticism that forced the Biden administration to reject the idea.