Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Don Beyer led a bicameral letter released on Thursday calling on the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to take swift action to protect Americans from gas stove pollution. Cooking with gas can produce air pollution levels indoors that exceed outdoor standards. Gas stoves, which are common in millions of American homes, can emit pollutants that some studies show lead to the development of asthma, especially in children, and may worsen symptoms for those with preexisting respiratory illnesses. Recent research has shown that gas stoves leak toxic chemicals and carcinogens even while turned off.
The CPSC has set its sights on this issue recently. At a webinar hosted by U.S. PIRG Education Fund last week, CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. detailed the agency’s plan for addressing gas stove health concerns.The commissioner announced that the agency would be opening a formal request for information in the spring, at which time they will solicit information from experts and the public about the health hazards associated with cooking with gas and the possible policy solutions the agency can pursue.
In the letter, the members of Congress encourage the CPSC to swiftly initiate a formal rulemaking.
“We thank Senator Booker, Representative Beyer and all the other members of Congress who signed this letter for speaking up about gas stove pollution that is threatening the health of so many Americans. The kitchen should be a place of bonding: Where Americans can come together with their loved ones to cook, eat and talk about their days; where kids can sit at the table and do their homework. It should not be a place where our families are exposed to toxic pollution that can make us sick.
It’s past time that states and the federal government do more to protect the public from gas stove pollution. The CPSC has an opportunity to put in place common-sense solutions that could mean fewer cases of childhood asthma, less missed school and work and all around healthier Americans. We’re eager to work with the agency to help address gas stove and indoor air pollution in American homes.”
The letter is cosigned by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (CA), Martin Heinrich (NM), Ed Markey (MA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Patty Murray (WA), Elizabeth Warren (MA), and Bernard Sanders (VT).
The letter is cosigned by Reps. Jared Huffman (CA), Shontel M. Brown (OH), Mark Takano (CA), Alan S. Lowenthal (CA), Ted Lieu (CA), André Carson (IN), Barbara Lee (CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Gwen S. Moore (WI), Stephen F. Lynch (MA), and Katie Porter (CA).