The late Michael Crichton wrote a novel in 2004 called State of Fear. It was a techno-thriller in which eco-terrorists plot mass murder to publicize the danger of global warming. While Crichton wrote the book to express his concerns about our climate, the book made a larger point; the media is always looking for a way to keep us in a state of fear.
The latest example of this is the concerns recently expressed about gas stoves. Who knew the gas stove in your kitchen was about to kill you? I grew up in Pennsylvania and my parents had a gas stove for the nearly fifty years they lived in our house. For most of those years we didn’t have any form of exterior ventilation, until a kitchen renovation first introduced us to stove-top ventilation. My parents lived to the ripe old ages of 86 and 89 and none of us ever suffered from lung disease. How did we escape this newly found danger? Maybe if we had known this danger earlier, my parents would still be alive?
Gas stoves have been around a long time and, until now, no one ever suggested they were dangerous unless you turned on the gas and didn’t ignite the burners. In fact, they were often a blessing when winter weather caused power outages, but the gas stoves still provided the means to cook and heat your home. I can remember many times when neighbors came to our house for refuge when their electric stoves and heaters had no power.
Why then, are gas stoves now in the news? Have we discovered something new? Is there some new understanding about gas stoves or is it a change in the political climate, not the real climate?
Kimberley Strassel, columnist for The Wall Street Journal, says, “The reason gas stoves are in the news is simple: There is a coordinated, calculated – and well-funded – strategy to kill them off. It’s the joint enterprise of extremely powerful climate groups, working with Biden administration officials who have publicly stated their aim to eliminate all “combustion appliances” in homes. Only after the GOP called them out did anyone pretend otherwise.”
Much of her information comes from letters sent by the Senate Commerce Committee to Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) commissioners demanding more information. The letters highlight the primary groups behind this campaign to eliminate gas stoves. One is the Climate Imperative Foundation (CIF) which became an overnight green powerhouse and reported more receipts in 2021 than the League of Conservation Voters or the Sierra Club. A board member and funder is Kleiner Perkins billionaire John Doerr, whose climate action plan calls for getting rid of gas cooking. CIF has granted money to the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), which has long advocated “retrofitting” existing homes to be “all electric.”
Another of these groups is Rewiring America, “the leading electrification nonprofit, focused on electrifying our homes, businesses, and communities.” Also New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity, which last year called on the CPSC to enact a gas stove ban.
What is the purpose of all these groups?
Strassel says, “The stated goal of all these groups is killing gas to “save” the planet. Yet they also know Americans won’t give up their stoves in the name of climate. So, several years ago this cabal hit on the idea of contradicting decades of science and ginning up hokey studies claiming gas stoves present a “health risk.” The twin goals: scare Americans and give government a pretext to ban gas cooking.” (emphasis mine)
As a physician I am not aware of any health hazards of gas stove cooking, apart from unlit burners when the gas is on, or the small risks of air pollution if there is improper ventilation. But necessity is the mother of invention. So, these groups needed to find some health hazards of gas cooking.
To this end, Strassel says climate outfits are masquerading as health experts. One frequently cited study from the Rocky Mountain Institute – claiming to find a link between gas stoves and childhood asthma – was co-authored by two RMI staffers, neither of who has a science degree. Another favorite study by NYU’s Institute for Policy Integrity claims gas stoves cause “dangerous levels of indoor air pollution.” This study was written by two lawyers, and for evidence it cites . . . (you guessed it!) the aforementioned RMI study!
There’s more of this pseudo-science. The November edition of the “independent” magazine Consumer Reports was devoted to the “Hidden Health Hazards in Your Home” and explained that its research found an “alarming concern” with levels of nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves. At the end of the report online was an editor’s note: “This project was funded in part with a grant from the Climate Imperative Foundation.” The 2021 CIF tax filings show a $375,000 donation to Consumer Reports specifically for research on gas stoves.
There is certainly support for this initiative with the Biden Administration. The White House last month held an “electrification summit,” which featured a panel on getting gas out of homes. Nearly every guest stated the health harm of gas stoves as accepted fact, and Trisha Miller of the White House’s Climate Policy Office described the need to “eliminate emissions” by getting rid of all “combustion appliances” in houses (including your washer, dryer and furnace). The electrification agenda is being carried out through the Department of Energy’s Better Climate Challenge, which lists Rewiring America and RMI as “allies.”
Strassel concludes: “Only after Bloomberg exposed some of this did the ensuing public furor cause the CPSC and White House to run for cover. But make no mistake: A ban is the plan. Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at the summit that “if we are going to get to net zero emissions by 2050,” we’ll need electric “cars and buses and home heating and cooking.” The left won’t stop until it has dictated what you drive, where you live, and how you cook.”
