Biden rules out gas-stove ban after Republican backlash

Joe Biden has ruled out any ban of gas stoves in the US, following a furious backlash from Republicans to suggestions they could be phased out due to their contribution to dangerous indoor air pollution that has been linked to childhood asthma and other conditions.

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Biden “does not support banning gas stoves”, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said on Wednesday. Jean-Pierre added that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency responsible for consumer safety, “is not banning gas stoves. I just want to be very clear on that.”

The president’s intervention follows the possibility of a ban raised by Richard Trumka Jr, a commissioner of the CPSC, who called gas stoves a “hidden hazard” and that any option restricting their ongoing sale was “on the table”. In December, Trumka said that “we need to be talking about regulating gas stoves, whether that’s drastically improving emissions or banning gas stoves entirely”.

Gas stoves have become a target for public health advocates, as well as climate campaigners, due to their leakage, even when turned off, of various pollutants such as carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. The biggest concern is over their emission of nitrogen dioxide, which can trigger cardiovascular problems and cause the inflammation of airways.

A peer-reviewed study released last week found that about one in eight cases of childhood asthma in the US can be linked directly to gas stoves, meaning that roughly 650,000 people aged under 18 could be suffering asthma attacks and having to use inhalers because of the presence of gas stoves in their homes.

The link between pollution spewing from gas stoves and health problems has been well established by scientists, with the Environmental Protection Agency warning of the dangers as far back as 1986.

However, about 40 million American households have gas stoves, and the prospect of their sale being curtailed sparked a swift response from conservatives who opened up a fresh front in the culture wars by claiming the stoves as a sort of emblem of freedom.

If the “maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands”, tweeted Ronny Jackson, a Republican Texas member of the House of Representatives and a former White House doctor. Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right House member from Georgia, also weighed in to attack the idea of a ban.

“The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner,” posted Senator Joe Manchin, the centrist West Virginia Democrat. “I can tell you the last thing that would ever leave my house is the gas stove that we cook on.”

Mindful of this reaction, the Biden administration has pulled back from the suggestion of a ban. On Wednesday, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, chairman of the CPSC, said that the agency was looking to improve indoor air quality standards and will ask the public for their thoughts on emissions from gas stoves.

“But to be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so,” he said. “CPSC is researching gas emissions in stoves and exploring new ways to address health risks. CPSC also is actively engaged in strengthening voluntary safety standards for gas stoves. This is part of our product safety mission – learning about hazards and working to make products safer.”