New Yorkers Deserve to Know That Gas Stoves Emit Dangerous Pollutants

Last May, New York took an important step toward reducing carbon and air pollution emissions from buildings—and ensuring healthier indoor air—with a law that requires zero-emission new buildings, avoiding dirty combustion like that produced by gas stoves. Now, the state has a chance to protect people and our environment by informing customers about the harmful pollutants that gas stoves emit before they purchase one. 

The Healthy Homes Right to Know Act aims to help New Yorkers make informed decisions about new appliance purchases by requiring signage at gas stoves’ purchase points, in addition to removable stickers on the stoves themselves. The labels would highlight the health risks associated with using them.

Scientific studies have, for decades, documented the health hazards of gas stoves, which can release dangerous pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and benzene. 

Carbon monoxide gas, known as a “silent killer” for its odorless, tasteless, colorless qualities, kills more than 500 people in the United States each year. Nitrogen dioxide, another toxic gas that damages lungs and exacerbates respiratory issues, can lead to an increased risk of childhood asthma. Indeed, a recent peer-reviewed investigation found that 12.7 percent of childhood asthma cases in the United States is linked to having a gas stove in the home. Another study, just published in early May by researchers at Stanford University, found that nitrogen dioxide emissions from gas and propane stoves may be responsible for up to 19,000 adult deaths every year, nationally. The same study estimated that gas and propane stoves are responsible for 200,000 current cases of pediatric asthma.

Meanwhile, a 2018 study discovered elevated levels of carcinogenic formaldehyde when gas burners were set to simmer. And benzene, another known carcinogen that is linked to leukemia and has no safe exposure limit, can pollute a home’s air even when the gas stove is turned off. 

Roughly 40 million U.S. households, or about 30 percent of homes, use gas stoves—but in places like New York City, roughly 70 percent of households have a gas stove. With Americans currently purchasing between 8 and 10 million new ovens and stoves every year, and with gas stoves’ relatively long useful life of 18 years, it is imperative that consumers be acutely aware of the inherent risks that accompany cooking with one—or simply having one hooked up in their kitchens.

But the truth is the public is still largely in the dark when it comes to these health hazards. A recent survey of 39 major appliance retailers across 10 states found that consumers receive little to no information about the dangers of gas stove pollution or the need for ventilation. 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that consumers don’t know the truth about the harmful nature of gas stoves, given the decades-long campaign by the gas industry to cover up the related science. An October 2023 investigative report from the Climate Investigations Center, a research and watchdog group, revealed that the gas industry has emulated the tobacco industry’s historical response to growing concerns over smoking’s health impacts. By funding its own research on gas stoves, just as the tobacco industry did with smoking, the gas industry worked to create confusion among consumers and muddy the science that could inform regulation—the ramifications of which we are presently experiencing, despite decades of reputable data on the health risks of gas stove use. The industry-funded studies focused on and magnified a few uncertainties in the health research, even as powerful evidence, accumulated over time, showed the link between gas stove emissions and respiratory diseases.

In the absence of safety regulations for indoor air quality, it is even more critical that consumers have accurate information to help protect themselves. A recent lawsuit brought by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund against a gas stove manufacturer argues that the lack of warning about the appliances’ dangers violates consumer protection law against ”deceptive and unconscionable business practices.”

We know that air pollution from stoves is preventable. But until practical and viable alternatives like induction stoves, which don’t require the burning of fossil fuels, become universal, New Yorkers deserve to have the information they need to make an educated decision about their next purchase.