That single sentence set off a firestorm of public controversy. Local and national news outlets began publishing articles about the study’s findings, often claiming there was a direct link between gas stove cooking and childhood asthma. One of the study’s researchers, Brady Seals, took to the public and claimed there was no causal relationship between gas stove cooking and childhood asthma rates.
You’d think that clarification would settle the matter but instead, the persistent claim that gas stoves cause childhood asthma continues to proliferate through American news media. The Washington Post boldly claimed gas stove cooking “causes” and is “responsible” for childhood asthma.
The controversy pitted two industries against one another. The natural energy industry, represented by the American Gas Association, has criticized the article’s findings. A coalition of green energy businesses supports the claims that childhood asthma can be attributed to gas stoves in kitchens. Both industries have criticized the other for misleading the American public.
What’s the Fuss with Gas Stoves and Childhood Asthma?
RMI, formerly known as Rocky Mountain Institute, is a nonprofit dedicated to “accelerating the clean energy transition” away from traditional energy resources, such as natural gas consumption, towards green energy and is the leading contributor to the study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The study claims that childhood asthma can be attributed to gas stove use in kitchens.
The problem is, as the American Gas Association pointed out, the study’s authors did not specifically find a causal relationship between gas stoves and asthma rates in children. This is a point stressed by Seals, one of the article’s authors. “We were never saying that gas stoves cause asthma, we always say that they are associated with asthma.”
A Yale University professor of medicine noted about the study, “It only calculates a percent of childhood asthma that could be attributable to residential natural gas use and risk of childhood asthma.”
Still, there’s an abundance of articles written about the study’s purported claim that gas stove cooking causes childhood asthma, further driving controversy and confusion. Colorado currently does not have legislation banning gas stoves in kitchens but a few major cities in the United States either have adopted legislation banning gas stoves or are being challenged in court over gas stove bans.
What About the Media?
Many legacy media outlets published the claim that gas stoves cause childhood asthma, including the Washington Post political op-ed which went out of its way to support the study’s findings.
The Guardian reports, “One in eight cases of asthma in US kids caused by gas stove pollution” and adds a quote from Brady Seals – the same author who said there was no causal relationship.
Locally, FOX21 News reported a more balanced view of the study’s findings, noting that gas stoves may “contribute” to childhood asthma. KKTV reported cooking with gas stoves was “associated with an increased risk of current asthma among children.”
Meanwhile, the Denver Post reported the study’s finding and added a quote from Beals, “the study never claimed to prove that gas stoves cause asthma, rather it increases the risk for the illness.”
The New Republic published an article disparaging critics of the study, accusing them of “Gas Stove Denialism”.
There’s One Little Thing
Asthma is a complex disease with a variety of causes. Some causes of asthma include indoor and outdoor pollution, dust, mites, mold, altitude, secondhand smoke, and more, including generational asthma. Perhaps gas stoves and other appliances emit sufficient levels of air pollution to warrant concern, and this may have been one of the RMI study’s main findings.
But in a study published in January 2021, researchers found that children who stayed home during forced lockdowns during the pandemic saw improved asthma rates. In Colorado, 32% of homes utilize gas stoves for cooking. Since a significant number of children stayed home for long periods of time during the pandemic lockdowns, there should be an expected and associated increase in asthma rates if one follows the RMI study’s conclusions. That didn’t happen, and instead, asthma rates for children improved and declined.
While the 2021 pandemic study is not the end-all-be-all study to end claims of links between gas stove cooking and asthma rates, it does illustrate a bigger problem today both in terms of how academic and scientific studies and their findings are reported by the media. In turn, this creates more confusion among the public about what’s risky, what’s not, and how to mitigate certain risks, such as childhood asthma.
But really, you should be OK to cook tortillas over a gas stove while your children watch, so long as you ain’t smoking cigarettes while you flip ‘em over.
[…] experts have claimed health problems are created or exacerbated by gas stoves. The Maverick Observer has covered the purported link. This past winter’s eruption of news – stories citing a […]