Biden not in favor of a gas stove ban, White House says

[Polybius]

Source: CNN

The White House on Wednesday asserted that President Joe Biden does not support a ban on gas stoves after a federal consumer safety official suggested that such a proposal was on the table.

The White House response follows a recent Bloomberg interview with Biden-appointed US Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr., who called the household appliance a “hidden hazard” and said that “any option is on the table” in relations to regulating them.

“Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” he added. Besides a ban, other options include “setting standards on emissions from the appliances,” Trumka said.

Pollutants from gas stoves have been linked to asthma and worsening respiratory conditions. A December 2022 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that indoor gas stove usage is associated with an increased risk of current asthma among children. The study found that almost 13% of current childhood asthma in the US is attributable to gas stove use.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/politics/biden-gas-stoves

[CountAllVotes]

1. Thank you for your sanity Mr. President!

& recommend !!!!!!

[montanacowboy]

2. Thank you Mr. President

of all the other places where we can contain pollutants gas stoves are not one of them. That is really a ridiculous proposal.

[kimbutgar]

3. Also those with gas stoves would have to get new cookware to use on electric stoves

The only people who benefit are appliance manufacturers and cookware companies at this point. If your pots and pans aren’t able to be magnetized they won’t work on electric stoves.

[orleans]

10. don't know how accurate this is

i grew up with a gas stove and had one through a large portion of my adult life

i moved to a place with an electric stove and my regular old pots and pans have worked fine

and i've had asthma since i was a young child--who knows why. my daughter, also grew up with gas stove, does not have asthma.

i mentioned this news to her the other day and she knew someone who had electric induction stove who had to get special cookware.

[LiberalArkie]

33. I kind of agree if a person has propane stove.. I have a propane space heater and it is messy.

Every winter I have an oily coating on my windows and other places.. Where I grew up we had natural gas heaters and I don't remember having that problem. Natural gas may not be as clean as it used to be 50 years ago though.

[colorado_ufo]

49. You don't need special cookware for electric stoves!

Just induction ranges, and even then, most pots/pans work. Aluminum bottoms and glass/ceramic will not work on induction ranges

I have cooked on gas, electric, wood burning, glass top, induction, Coleman fuel, propane, and you name it. Love glass top!

I grew up in New Orleans among gas stoves and unvented gas heaters and a family of smokers. I suffered misery as a child with earaches and many bouts of bronchitis (and probably pneumonia - in the 40s and 50s, you didn't run to a doctor - no health insurance). As an adult, I have to battle asthma and likely have some COPD, although I have never smoked. Gas is awful, and DANGEROUS, in a home, but it would be prohibitively expensive to do mass replacement.

[thesquanderer]

11. re: "If your pots and pans aren't able to be magnetized they won't work on electric stoves."

You're confusing electric stoves with induction stoves.

But at any rate, even if there were to be a ban on gas stoves, that's the kind of thing that gets granfathered. I can't imagine their saying that people have to pull out their gas stoves! But they could prevent the sales of new ones, so that their usage gets diminished and phased out over time.

[LiberalArkie]

31. Bull. That is the expensive induction ovens

[thesquanderer]

38. I think you were agreeing with me, and meant to reply to a different post...?

If not, what exactly was bull?

[Mosby]

70. You mean convection oven.

Stoves top burners can be calrod, glasstop, radient, gas, induction.

[colorado_ufo]

50. Yes.

[IronLionZion]

12. That's induction. Most metals works on it

notable exceptions are aluminum and copper unless they have a magnetic disk at the bottom

[cannabis_flower]

20. No all electric stoves

[demigoddess]

57. I have an electric stove and have had in most of my houses for decades. (military wife)

and I have used stainless steel, glass, corning ware and copper bottomed. I have all of those in my kitchen right now.

[NullTuples]

27. That's only with induction stoves, not old fashioned coil-burner stoves

Imo, induction stoves are...just okay. Expensive & fragile.

But old fashioned coil stove-tops are still highly efficient. The only drawbacks are poor contact with pans (fixable, with better burner designs) and heat control (again easily fixable...if manufacturers had the incentive instead of pushing higher profit inductive stovetops).

But also...many glass top stoves that are now sold & installed are not induction; they have a coil under the glass and work with anything that sits on top of the glass. Which to me is kinda silly since the glass is just as fragile as that of an induction stove.

[Igel]

42. No, that's not right.

I went from electric to gas to electric to gas. My cookware worked fine, no change needed.

That said, I really rather despise electric stoves. Too long to heat, too long to cool.

I got the third kind of cooking surface, induction-based, and that requires specific types of cookware. If it's not ferromagnetic metal, it just won't work. (That wasn't a stove, it was a hotplate so I could heat up stuff in my classroom for faculty functions. Why that? Because the only source of heat for the cooking surface itself is heat transferred from the pot or pan. No heating element that stays hot, no flame. Minimizing risk to careless students.)

[we can do it]

61. Not true, we are all electric and had to buy no new cookware when we moved here from Ohio.

[Woodwizard]

67. That is for induction electric stoves, not resistance stoves

Aluminum cookware will not work on them. Traditional steel and cast iron will work fine.

That said I love our gas stove.

[DashOneBravo]

4. Update

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=zc5GswOpZd_fdnmicQ4wvw

[FoxNewsSucks]

19. Thank god!

[The Mouth]

69. Thank goodness

Not quite as counterproductive as 'Defund The Police' but the idiots behind the idea aren't doing us any favor.

Why does the impulse to do good go to insane excesses with stuff like gas stoves, low flow toilets, and shitty CFL bulbs, in other words just pissing off people?

Rule number one to winning elections- don't do stupid shit that pisses off voters.

[dem4decades]

5. Gas stove, cast iron pan, Costco steak last night's terrific dinner. Having lived with gas my

entire life, I must say electric burners on stoves are stupid and impossible to use.

Don't know how anybody can do it.

[kimbutgar]

14. My mother in laws has one and when I cook at her home i have a hard time cooking on it

I’ve had gas stoves all my life and in no hurry to get an electric one.

[ThoughtCriminal]

65. Clearly those of us with electric stoves

are either starving or eating raw meat.

[dem4decades]

66. Or cooking crummy meals.

[TygrBright]

6. I'm switching to induction anyway.

And an industrial-strength exhaust fan.

My asthma is largely under control, but the older I get the more I want to reduce risks. Not just the potential air quality issues with burning gas flames, but 'forgetting' that we had a burner on very low (not enough flame to be immediately visible but enough to heat up the burner grid to the point of inflicting burns!), reaching across burners to controls, etc.

I'm hoping a new induction range with front-mounted controls will increase safety all around. We will have to replace a couple of pieces of cookware, but most of my stuff is already induction-compatible.

hopefully,
Bright

[markie]

25. awesome

I love my new induction... I used gas most of my life and swore I would never go electric... once I got solar panels, I decided to go electric stove as well... damn, I love it! just a pretty big learning curve at first; I boiled over any number of things the first week boiled water in a minute, no fear of hot stovetop, spills don't bake on, I would never go back wise choice

[TygrBright]

36. It's a bit pricier, but really looks worthwhile. n/t

[Luciferous]

54. I just got an induction range and I love it. It's also more energy efficient.

[LeftInTX]

7. Good. We didn't need to add more fuel to the GOP fire

You know that tortillas are thrown on gas stove racks? Seriously, the pack of tortillas that you bought are not considered cooked and are supposed to be thrown on a gas stove to finish the process. Hubby just about had a fit when we moved into a house with an electric stove.
Just another way to lose Latino votes!

[Sogo]

37. Exactly.

In a comment on another thread, I said that some recipes require preparation on gas stoves (thinking of tortillas and chapatis, specifically).

[sl8]

39. I first learned to toast tortillas on electric range elements.

Just need to slide the big ones around a bit.

[Igel]

43. Care to roast a poblano or Anaheim over it?

Not sure how chapatis would work.

[cilla4progress]

8. Called it.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=17547900

[efhmc]

9. Noreal cook/chef uses electric.

[markie]

26. I have a licensed kitchen...

and love my induction... these and more

https://www.vox.com/22744866/tiktok-food-star-gas-stoves-induction

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/09/20/professional-chef-on-her-love-of-cooking-with-induction/

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-12-16/clash-of-the-kitchens-california-leads-the-way-in-a-new-climate-battleground

[oldsoftie]

13. Sanity prevails. These suggestions are getting ridiculous.

Thank you Pres Biden.

[WestMichRad]

15. Ok, then how about requiring a nearly air filter

… or venting? There are many family members etc who don’t deserve the asthma or breathing problems that may result from unventilated gas stoves.

[ProfessorGAC]

62. Except For New Construction...

...that would be unenforceable.
Probably not worth the political fall-out.
While I understand the issue, with neither me nor my wife having respiratory issues, we're not at all likely to spend the money to install a vent hood in our house.
How would they force us?

[womanofthehills]

64. I have 7 kitchen windows that open plus a door in my kitchen to a patio

No venting hood but lots of air when cooking. I planned my kitchen this way because I am sensitive to propane and initially lived off grid for 5 yrs.

[Richard D]

16. How long before the Qnuts

Want gas stoves banned?

[Owl]

17. Thank goodness!

Had both over the years but definitely prefer gas.

[Diamond_Dog]

18. I wonder if Faux news was spreading this bullshit

Mr. Diamond came home from the swim center yesterday saying the guys in the locker room had been watching the news on the teevee and that crazy Biden wants to ban gas stoves and they were looking into banning gas HEAT!

[doc03]

23. I was subjected to seeing Fox a couple minutes. At the bottom of the screen there was a bulletin.

"They had pictures of the First Lady cooking on a gas stove". I kid you not. Apparently they were taking sides thinking Biden was
for banning gas stoves.

[Igel]

44. 1-2 years ago there was a push to kill natural gas in the home.

California doesn't allow new construction to have natural gas lines. Some anti-climate-change groups were loud in 2020 and 2021. Natural gas is bad for the environment. Methane? CO2? Just say no!

They got pushback.

Hochul's on the bandwagon, as of today. (Or maybe she's jumped off by now. It's been 6 hours.)

Not long after the push to de-natural-gasify homes was panned, the "but gas in the home is such a pollutant!" was floated. Got no traction6.

Until Trumka Jr. said that what was harmful--referring to gas stoves--could be banned. Fox put it on an endless loop, but the bullshit was entirely unforced and utterly exact in its quoting. Trumka's quiet, but those above him and below him have repudiated his words.

Note that anti-climate-change folk a decade or more ago were pushing natural gas because it replaced coal and polluted far, far less. A lot of the CO2 emission reductions in the last 15 years or so are due increased use of natural gas (replacing coal).

[sinkingfeeling]

21. Cooked on gas stove, including my beautiful 6 burner I had for

25 years, all my life.. Then moved to an apartment with electric one in 2020. There's not a level burner on it and use of the broiler sets off the fire alarm.

[yorkster]

22. In 2 homes we have lived in we had the best combo -

gas cooktop and electric wall oven. Cooktop has a fan that vents to the outside and in both houses, the oven and cooktop were on different sides of somewhat small but totally workable kitchen spaces.

I liked the elec. oven for baking and roasting, but love the gas cooktop for quick dinners, etc. that start with sautéing onions, then build from there.

Anyone remember The Two Husbands of Doña Flor? Brazilian film with Sona Braga opens with a shot of something delicious bubbling away...Cooking with gas, baby. It inspires creative cooking chez moi, anyhow.

Sorry for anyone dealing with asthma/respiratory issues.
My post here is of course only based on personal observations. In my single days I lived in several iffy apartments, one if which had an old gas stove with a side panel for heating. Had to use it in mid-winter at times. Bit spooky.

[MissB]

55. I have a dual fuel range

Gas cook top, electric oven.

I am also about to have a massive vent unit installed.

I think part of the issue of indoor air quality is lack of appropriate ventilation. Dual fuel ranges are not cheap but my vent unit and installation will rival that cost.

[yorkster]

56. Venting is a good solution.

Our appliances may have been cheaper, since they are separate units and different manufacturers..

[dalton99a]

24. Trumka is an idiot.

"Ladders can never be made safe because they have a tendency to fall down. Let's ban ladders."

[friend of a friend]

40. Ladders are very dangerous if not used correctly.

Use it correctly and you will be okay. Unfortunately, many people use them without reading the instructions and warnings. I realize you wrote a sarcastic post.

[ampm]

28. Wow

Yes, thanks for this, I've used a gas stove for over 40 years and have added a carbon monoxide detector in the kitchen , Yea so this makes sense

[NullTuples]

29. Looking at the replies you'd think it was 1973 and they were trying to ban leaded gasoline...

Yes, gas is easy to cook on.

But it's less efficient than electric.

And it's often as bad as second hand smoke.

Why not accept this & push manufacturers to update coil-burner stoves to have flat burners & accurate temperature control at good prices?

[summer_in_TX]

59. Induction stoves require pots and pans that attract a

magnet. They are heated by magnetism inducing motion in the molecules. They're the only items that get hot on an induction stovetop. The induction stove top won't burn anyone or anything nonferrous that touches it, even if it's on. Even paper between it and the pot.

The bottom of the pots and pans should be flat to work well and can achieve 95 percent efficiency.

Gas stoves are about 45 percent efficient while electric stoves are about 65 percent, but when the pan size is a good match for the burner (whether electric or gas), efficiency increases.

Studies show that gas stove pollution increases the incidence of asthma in those living in homes utilizing gas for cooking.

Apparently the ovens often are gas or electric even if the stove top is induction.

Glad Biden opposes mandating a switch to induction stoves. THAT'd get overwhelming support. NOT. But I suspect a number of folks will begin adopting them and then down the road maybe new houses will have them as a first choice. Still, shouldn't be mandated.

[NowsTheTime]

30. However, I think Biden should consider a ban on Republican gas lighting.

[area51]

52. lol. n/t

[yaesu]

32. I agree with the President, it would die a slow death like the inconsistent

Lightbulb ban did. Anyway, the consumer guy must have been tripping on some bad acid when he mentioned the ban.

[SheltieLover]

34. Good!

[News Junkie]

35. I don't think Joe should have taken that position

We're the party of science and reason. The EPA and World Health Organization agree they are unsafe. On an issue like this you put your trust in the experts. We shoudn't be deterred by the dopes on Fox or anywhere else.

[Igel]

46. Everything's unsafe.

Running is unsafe. Sitting still is unsafe. I could die falling down the stairs, stairs are unsafe. Living alone is unsafe; life with somebody, they could kill you.

It's not "there's risk" versus "there's no risk." It's a question of comparing risk. Are gas stoves riskier than electric stoves, associated with a higher number of house fires and deaths/greater damage? What if there's better ventilation--then which is riskier? How about induction stoves--they typically cost more than gas or electric.

EPA and WHO tend to not compare risks nor promote individual, autonomous decision making.

[News Junkie]

48. With that logic, we'd never regulate anything

Because everything's unsafe, or something.

[Politicub]

41. We live in an old house.

And would need to replace the electric panel if we switched to an electric cooktop.

The panel was changed years ago, but we wouldn’t be able to easily add a 220v circuit.

As we have changed more things to electric, the capacity of the current panel is almost maxed out.

I guess we could use the circuit from the electric wall oven for a range. That would be a construction project to put in a range and remove the wall oven, though.

I would like an electric car one day, but putting in a high capacity charger would be an expensive project for the same reason as a new cooktop.

[Jose Garcia]

45. Biden not in favor of losing reelection

[Beacool]

47. Good!!

I don't like electric stoves. Gas stoves cook more even and still work when the power is out. In FL most people seem to have electric stoves. My mother didn't like them either. In the aftermath of one hurricane her area had no electricity for a week. All her neighbors were coming over to use her stove. The same thing happened after Sandy in my area. It was a relief to have a gas stove and gas heat.

[Beacool]

51. Self-deleted, double post.

Last edited Wed Jan 11, 2023, 10:04 PM - Edit history (1)

[Raine]

53. GOOD, I lost power here in California last week (for a few hours)

but at least I still had gas, could heat things and make coffee.

[herding cats]

58. It seems like a code change which requires an exterior vented hood is a choice here.

Educating the public and stating all new builds with gas ranges should vent outside (like a gas water heater must) and letting municipalities decide if old ones should require a retrofit on old builds to pass inspection seems a viable option here.

Just a thought.

[Warpy]

60. My stove is how I checked if a CO detector was working every fall

All I had to do was stand in the kitchen doorway and the thing would alarm when the stove was in use.

I think bans are likely going to be state by state and cover the sale of new stoves. You'll still be able to buy reconditioned clunkers. I imagine California will lead the way, as usual.

I'm still getting used to an electric stove. My main problem is that the controls are backwards from my old gas stove, anticlockwise instead of clockwise. At least I know the smoke detector works.

[Vinca]

63. Well, jeez, to hear Republicans you'd think Biden was leading the ban.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

68. Yet Fux Noise keeps saying he is.