Gas stoves are even worse for health and climate than previously thought

If you were about to buy an appliance that could emit harmful air pollutants into your home, you’d want to know, right?

That’s the focus of PIRG’s new campaign urging Best Buy, the third-largest appliance retailer in the United States, to better inform its customers about the health risks of gas stoves. Not only do children living in homes with gas cooking have a 42% higher chance of experiencing current asthma symptoms and a 24% higher chance over their lifetime of being diagnosed with asthma, but new research now estimates that gas stoves across the U.S. emit climate-warming methane equivalent to the annual emissions from 500,000 cars.

“Cooking with gas stoves emits harmful pollution into both our homes and the environment,” said Erin Skibbens, PIRG environment campaigns associate. “Retailers, like Best Buy, have a responsibility to their customers to warn them of the potential dangers and health impacts of gas stoves sold in their stores.”

“There’s no justifying the tired belief that gas stoves are best. It’s time to transition to cleaner, safer electric and induction cooking.”

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