Popular opinion? Gas stoves cook better than electric. Also a dangerously popular opinion? Ignoring health risks in children is okay, apparently.
Gas stoves are not new. However, we now have the scientific evidence that shows gas stoves are tied to asthma in one in eight U.S. children. That is a staggering number and one that must be addressed as an urgent health issue.
Sign the petition: Protect children from gas stove pollution at home
This research, and the potential regulation in response, has been met with the sort of up-in-arms, “outta my cold dead hands” mentality usually reserved for Second Amendment enthusiasts and their guns. The GOP specifically, fueled by the gas industry’s denial and disinformation, has clenched its talons into this latest culture war, losing all logic when it comes to potential health regulations that could be imposed.
Somehow this sounds so familiar.
RELATED: Life. Liberty. Lead paint: On the GOP and gas stoves
Oh that’s right! Thanks to years of industry disinformation, folks once fought hard to keep their lead paint. Before lead paint was regulated and banned by the government in the 1970s, the lead industry fought bans, restrictions, and warning labels, and continued to downplay scientific evidence of its harm as frivolous nonsense.
Such industry shadiness isn’t new: Big Tobacco used a similar playbook.
Folks, this is about the health and safety of our children. And thank goodness, Democrats trust SCIENCE over industry talking points.
Like it did with lead paint, the U.S. government—the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, specifically—can step in to ensure our safety and our children’s safety, and address the harmful indoor air pollutants emitted by gas appliances. Policies to electrify new and existing buildings are in order, which protect both residents and the climate, and must also be on the table.
It’s time for the federal government to get on board: Regulators can and must act to keep our air clean and children safe. Add your name to demand U.S. regulators protect children from gas stove pollution.
Sign the petition: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission must take action to protect children from gas stove pollution.