Matt Casale
Former Director, Environment Campaigns, PIRG
Former Director, Environment Campaigns, PIRG
Dear Members of Congress:
We write to request congressional action to address the health risks and dangers of gas stoves used in the home. As organizations, individual doctors and nurses, public health professionals, and consumer protection advocates dedicated to promoting public health, we are concerned about the negative health impacts resulting from the routine use of gas stoves in more than a third of homes across America.
More than thirty years ago, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) asked the EPA if it should be concerned about the impact of an invisible toxic gas— nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emitted from gas stoves. The EPA responded that the pollutant could have harmful health effects, and CPSC should investigate the concentrations of NO2 occurring in America’s kitchens. Since that time, the EPA has continued to study the impacts of NO2. Most recently, in 2016 the EPA stated that short-term exposure to NO2 has a causal relationship with asthma attacks, particularly in children, and likely leads to the development of asthma. Yet neither agency has acted to regulate gas stove pollution, and the appliance remains common in more than 40 million homes throughout America. The US’s inaction on developing health-protective standards for NO2 based on the latest evidence is in contrast to other countries, such as Canada, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Canada recently revised down its indoor NO2 guideline. Additionally, the WHO recently revised NO2 guidelines down by a staggering factor of four. The WHO guidelines are applicable to indoor and outdoor NO2 and find that health impacts can occur at very low levels of exposure.
Gas stove pollution does not affect everyone equally. Populations most at risk include children, people with underlying health conditions, pregnant women, and older adults. In fact, children living in a home with a gas stove have a 42% increased risk of asthma and a 24% increased risk of being diagnosed with asthma by a doctor. Gas stoves also pose a health equity issue because people of color and lower-income households are disproportionately burdened by air pollutant exposure inside their homes, influenced by smaller unit size, more residents per home, inadequate ventilation, and improper use of a stove or oven for supplemental heat. These factors—compounded by disparities in outdoor air pollution and overall asthma burden—put our most vulnerable community members at high risk of negative health outcomes related to gas stove pollution.
In addition to the health risks, the extraction and combustion of methane gas used to power gas stoves contributes to the climate crisis, which in turn endangers public health even further. The changing climate will result in increases in average temperature, changes in precipitation patterns leading to flooding events and drought, and more frequent and intense hurricanes, wildfires, and poor air quality days. We can already see evidence of these changes today, as well as the resulting increased incidence of vector-borne disease and food- and water-related illness, impacts to mental health status, and increased risk of injury, disease, and death from these extremes.
The evidence is clear and mounting: gas stoves are hazardous to health and bad for our climate. As advocates and experts in the health field, we are calling for congressional action to bring to light the extent of the problem and to explore regulatory actions necessary to protect the public.
Sincerely,
Organizations
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
Allergy & Asthma Network
Arizona Climate Action Coalition
Arizona Interfaith Power & Light
Arizona PIRG
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
AZ Public Health Association
Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community
Building Decarbonization Coalition
CALPIRG
Climate Code Blue
Climate Psychiatry Alliance
Consumer Federation of America
COPIRG
Elders Climate Action
Elevate
Florida Clinicians for Climate Action
Forward Dining Solutions LLC
George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication
GreenHome Institute
Green & Healthy Homes Initiative
Illinois PIRG
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
New Buildings Institute
MarylandPIRG
MASSPIRG
MI Air MI Health
Mi Familia Vota
Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action
Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition
Mothers Out Front
NCPIRG
Nevada Conservation League
OSPIRG
PennPIRG
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for Social Responsibility Arizona
Physicians for Social Responsibility New York
Physicians for Social Responsibility Oregon
Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
Physicians for Social Responsibility San Francisco Bay
Physicians for Social Responsibility Texas
Physicians for Social Responsibility Washington
Public Citizen
Respiratory Health Association
Rewiring America
RMI
Save Porter Ranch
Sierra Club
U.S. PIRG
WashPIRG
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action
Individuals
Catherine Toms
Medical Doctor, Florida Clinicians for Climate Action Steering Committee Member
Judith Amanda Millstein
Medical Doctor
Carol Lindsey
Nurse Practitioner
Zachary Williams
Health Educator, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Kathleen Nolan
Medical Doctor, MSL, Physician and Bioethicist
Eve Shapiro
Medical Doctor, MPH
Linda Peng
Medical Doctor, Internal Medicine Physician
Eric Sullivan
Medical Doctor
Joseph Blanda
Medical Doctor
Kim D. Bullock
Clinical Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
Debra Safer
Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
Anna Brandes
Medical Student, University of Utah School of Medicine
Meg Whitman
Medical Doctor
Alan S. Peterson
Medical Doctor
Andrea Kline-Tilford
President, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
Mark Vossler
Medical Doctor
Randa Bazzi
Veterinarian
Tomas Smith
Climate and Health Ambassador, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Cheron McNabb
President, National Carbon Monoxide Awareness Association
Tony Parnak
350Petaluma.org
Quinn Beaver
Policy Analyst, Elevate
Teena Halbig
United Nations Association of the USA Kentucky Division
Rachel Dortin
Content Strategist, Slipstream
Apostle Dr. Junius Pressey
Bread From Heaven Ministries Intl
Drew Johnstone
Sr. Sustainability Analyst, City of Santa Monica
Cynthia Mahoney
Medical Doctor, Climate Health Now
Jeffrey Mann
Medical Doctor, Climate Health Now
Alma Hernandez
Intern, San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility
Knox J. Kelly
Medical Doctor
Karen Peterson
Community Climate Educator, ClimateTuscon
Alyssa Tracy
Climate Change and Health Advocacy Ambassador, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Brenda Nuyen
Medical Doctor
Lisa Patel
Medical Doctor, Stanford School of Medicine
Zachary Meyer
Local Climate Action Leader, Menlo Spark
Leane Eberhart
Architect
Gary Latshaw
Staff Scientist, Secure the Future 2100, Fossil Free Silicon Valley
Michelle Hudson
Co-Leader, the San Mateo Climate Action Team
Linda Peng
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Drew Johnstone
Senior Sustainability Analyst
Amanda Peppercorn
Physician Researcher, GSK
Erica Mitrano
Jennifer Valentine
Alex Stavis
Pat Brooks
Dennis Kreiner
Paula Causey West
Leo Anthony Kucewicz
David Guran
Laura Z Chinofsky
B Soltis
Debra Little
Maryanne Perlmutter
Jennifer Green
Kathy Battat
Daniel Tahara
Gladwyn d’Souza
Jeffrey Perrone
Amanda Bancroft
Leana Rosetti
Hazel Chandler
Gabrielle Lawrence, Ph.D
Former Director, Environment Campaigns, PIRG