A U.S. agency has advanced a request for information on gas stove hazards after it was filed by a commissioner who has floated banning the appliances.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced on March 1 that it’s seeking information from the public “on chronic chemical hazards from gas ranges.”
Members of the public are being invited to submit comments on how many U.S. homes have gas ranges, how the commission should evaluate risks related to gas stove usage, and what information should be part of labels with warnings about hazards on stoves, among other aspects of the issue.
The commission is also requesting “proposed solutions to those hazards.”
“Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” he told Bloomberg at the time.
“There is sufficient information available for CPSC to issue [a notice of proposed rulemaking] in fiscal year 2023 proposing to ban gas stoves in homes,” Trumka also wrote.
The White House and Hoehn-Saric later said they weren’t in favor of banning gas stoves. Some lawmakers have introduced proposals that would block the CPSC from banning gas stoves.
The approved request for information (RFI) “does not constitute or propose any regulatory action or ban,” Hoehn-Saric said in a statement on March 1. “The chronic hazards that can arise from toxic emissions should be studied and that is what we are doing with this RFI. I welcome the public’s input and data during the comment period.”
Trumka
Trumka was prepared to introduce a rule that would direct staff to prepare and submit to the commission a notice of proposed rulemaking for gas stoves. However, acknowledging a lack of support for the rule, Trumka offered a substitute amendment that would direct staff to prepare an RFI. The RFI was later approved.He said he was looking forward to “learning more about the chronic health effects of nitrogen dioxide emissions and particulate matter emissions from gas stoves.”
He added later: “Are there technologies that can eliminate any unreasonable hazards? If technologies to improve the performance of gas stoves are not commercially viable or not demonstrated to be safe, what options remain?”
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) said in a statement that the administration “is once again taking steps toward possibly regulating gas stoves.”
She added, “Make no mistake—this is NOT about product safety, it’s about government control.”
Proposed Rules
The RFI comes after the Department of Energy proposed new rules for gas stoves and other cooking appliances.“As required by Congress, the Department of Energy is proposing efficiency standards for gas and electric cooktops—we are not proposing bans on either,” a spokesperson for the department said in February.
Jill Notini, industry spokesperson for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, told The Epoch Times that the proposed rules are “stringent” and that the department appears to be intending to “eliminate gas products from the market.”