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Highlights: A study this summer found that using a single gas stove burner on
high can raise levels of cancer-causing benzene above what’s been observed from
secondhand smoke. A new investigation by NPR and the Climate Investigations
Center found that the gas industry tried to downplay the health risks of gas
stoves for decades, turning to many of the same public-relations tactics the
tobacco industry used to cover up the risks of smoking. Gas utilities even hired
some of the same PR firms and scientists that Big Tobacco did. Earlier this
year, an investigation from DeSmog showed that the industry understood the
hazards of gas appliances as far back as the 1970s and concealed what they knew
from the public. It’s a strategy that goes back as far back as 1972, according
to the most recent investigation. That year, the gas industry got advice from
Richard Darrow, who helped manufacture controversy around the health effects of
smoking as the lead for tobacco accounts at the public relations firm Hill +
Knowlton. At an American Gas Association conference, Darrow told utilities they
needed to respond to claims that gas appliances were polluting homes and shape
the narrative around the issue before critics got the chance. Scientists were
starting to discover that exposure to nitrogen dioxide—a pollutant emitted by
gas stoves—was linked to respiratory illnesses. So Darrow advised utilities to
“mount the massive, consistent, long-range public relations programs necessary
to cope with the problems.” These studies didn’t just confuse the public, but
also the federal government. When the Environmental Protection Agency assessed
the health effects of nitrogen dioxide pollution in 1982, its review included
five studies finding no evidence of problems—four of which were funded by the
gas industry, the Climate Investigations Center recently uncovered. Karen
Harbert, the American Gas Association’s CEO, acknowledged that the gas industry
has “collaborated” with researchers to “inform and educate regulators about the
safety of gas cooking appliances.” Harbert claimed that the available science
“does not provide sufficient or consistent evidence demonstrating chronic health
hazards from natural gas ranges”—a line that should sound familiar by now.
omg, is this for real? weird how recent conspiracy rumbling about gvmnt taking away gas stoves may have been covering for a real conspiracy. First I’ve read about benzene in stove fumes. Like cooking w/gas
The whole article is a mishmash of different articles. Some of the articles are citing more articles that are citing studies. Some of the studies they’re citing are kind of bullshit some of their studies they’re citing are reasonable and realistic.
The takeaway from reading the rats nest of science is that natural gas and propane do not burn clean enough to just be openly burned inside without proper venting. And it’s not just the benzene there’s a lot of volatile organics that come off of that. There’s a lot of correlation and conjecture in there. Even the peer-reviewed study they’re talking about is a meta study review, The biases get pretty muddy in that stuff.
Now this also isn’t to say that the gas company are saints and doing the right thing for the consumer. Gas providers are going to lie, cheat, steal, and spend as much money as they reasonably can to protect their business and they honestly don’t give a s*** about the climate or people’s health they’re really just there to make money.
Proper electric stoves are cleaner, faster and more efficient. I don’t them uncomfortable to cook on, but I have to admit it’s probably mainly my unfamiliarity with timing and temperatures associated with electric.
That’s pretty much what a lot of science writers do these days beyond the actual science. Actual science is usually boring and hard to follow unless you are used to it. I only claim to know what I’ve actually witnessed most of the time. There is an art to most complex science. Creative beyond my abilities combined with an intuitive grasp of nature.