Gas Stoves Follow Big Tobacco Playbook

[STEbbq]

I thought this was a thoughtful article that touched on some new information for me anyway. There is some helpful data and research cited.

I guess my takeaway would be that I am not giving up my gas stove. I would be curious if different gas stoves have different emissions profiles so I could buy the best one.

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/17/1183551603/gas-stove-utility-tobacco

[Jkahnert]

Interesting read, thanks for sharing. Like you, I am not giving up my gas stove. However, if I were younger, or had young children at home, I would certainly be learning more about the issue and looking for viable alternatives.

[Spinaker]

Just wait, they will be coming for charcoal next. "Second hand charcoal smoke is killing your neighbors"

it never ends.

[Spinaker]

Yeah, I just worry that they will "regulate" them out of existence. Not an outright ban, but they can make it cost prohibitive or really inconvienient to own one.

[Oak Smoke]

Good grief I’m getting old and cantankerous. I’ve had all the regulatory interference I can handle. I will not tolerate my life being micro managed. I apologize it’s the Texan coming out in me. That being said I’m still old and cantankerous.

[Jkahnert]

@oaksmoke what specific government regulations are making your life so miserable right now. Not trying to be an ass, I am genuinely curious.

[JeffJ]

I remember when this story originally broke. Here is the key piece:
"A 1992 analysis by Duke University and EPA researchers found that children in a home with a gas stove have about a 20% increased risk of developing respiratory illness. A 2022 analysis showed 12.7% of childhood asthma cases in the U.S. can be attributed to gas stove use in homes."

With this analysis the test was done with the kitchen surrounded by plastic wrap. The emissions were trapped in the kitchen. How many kitchens are completely enclosed like that? Further, even my electric stove has a vent fan. This study is so flawed in its methodology that it seems essentially worthless.

[STEbbq]

Wow. That can make a difference for sure.

[jfmorris]

I’ve got a hood that vents outside over our gas cooktop. Unless it’s dead of winter I almost always run the vent fan to get the heat out of the kitchen, and I imagine it takes most of the exhaust too. A burner of any sort in a sealed plastic enclosed room is going to eventually consume all the oxygen too.

Most homes are not sealed super tight, especially older ones like mine. So I just don’t see a comparison to the real world here…

[LA Pork Butt]

We didn’t have air conditioning when I grew up in New Orleans in a house with 12’ high ceilings. I have no respiratory problems.

[Bbqmikeg]

When the lights go out in the city
we can’t have you cooking, or taking a hot shower.

[klflowers]

My daughter had severe asthma and we had electric stoves. I grew up with gas stoves; no respiratory issues (yet, I smoked for 40 years), none for my sister or 93 year old mom. Or my extended family - all of us grew up in homes with gas stoves.

[Bob K]

We had a cast iron wood stove in our living room. Primary source of heat Oct-Apr. I’m no combustionologist, but I bet the 80/20 oak/pine blend we burned was a tad less clean than LNG. And yet no one died from it

[58limited]

Same here. Used wood stove in college. I survived.

[Bob K]

I should probably own my ignorance here. The fact that 4 random people didn’t get what 70% of all people don’t get isn’t evidence of squat. My bad

[Donw]

I’m all for taming pollution but come on now.
Reminds me of my years volunteering with our DNR. Thousand of dollars and man hours were spent creating a regulation that all boat holding tanks had to be chained off due to a study that showed less than 500 gallons had been discharged in our coastal bays during a 2 year study. I helped run the public meetings and then assisted as members of our law enforcement department did a boat by boat inspection at all the local marinas and boat ramps to make sure that everyone was in compliance and wrote tickets for those who hadn’t.
Not once was it mentioned in any hearing or publication that several municipal waste water treatment plants had had accidental discharges into the same waters totaling over 200,000 gallons of untreated water in one year. Those plants were only issued non compliance letters or fined a few thousand dollars by a different division of the agency. Even I learned about these discharges much later when assisting that other division.

[Bkhuna]

I had a neighbor once complain about the smell of smoke from my grill. They have a child and they decided to build a gazebo right on the property line maybe 80 feet from my patio.so the wife could smoke outdoors.

[ecowper]

My neighbor has routinely complained about my grills and smokers and the smoke they put off. Hasn’t stopped her from showing up for BBQ, though.

[JCBBQ]

Guys, guys, a new study says all you gotta do is wear a mask. It’s a panacea.

[Uncle Bob]

Show me anything that doesn't have some level of risk in life.

I don't need some self serving politician to baby me, especially one who doesn't really give a rip about me or even know much about anything except accumulating personal power and wealth.

[Smoker_Boy]

Just wait, they will be coming for charcoal next. "Second hand charcoal smoke is killing your neighbors"

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[troymeister]

My cousin as a child had really bad asthma. It so happened my Aunt's gas stove died and someone gave her an electric stove for free. (the electric was already there)

Shortly after that, my cousin's asthma decreased greatly. This was sometime in the mid 70's when no one was making that connection.

Also I am sure the stove was from the early 60's, had a pilot light and probably leaked some kind of pollution all the time.

Anyway, it was good to see my cousin get some relief from his asthma. He has never since lived in a home with a gas stove.

[MBMorgan]

troymeister - I'm sorry to inform you that due to your calm, reasoned response, you'll going to have to turn in your tinfoil hat.

[troymeister]

I still have my gas stove...Jus' Sayin'.....

[ecowper]

This study JeffJ references above has many significant problems with it. And is the only one of its nature. It’s very similar to the FDA basing it’s no fat guidance on one flawed study in the 1960’s. Or to the idea that Electric Vehicles are, naturally, better environmentally without considering the source of the electricity (coal and natural gas, usually) …. Or so many other similar things.

I’m an engineer by trade and training. The folks coming up with the regulations, general rule of thumb, are not.

I’m all for making things better, more efficient, more effective, less polluting. What I’m not for is people that don’t understand the science, engineering, technology, and consequences making decisions based on what feels good and makes for good PR.