Input Stories

California is weighing new legislation that would require manufacturers to place warning labels on all gas stoves beginning in 2025 (Fox Business).

What’s going on: “Under the bill, it would be illegal to sell a gas stove that is manufactured or sold online on or after Jan. 1, 2025, or sold in a store on or after Jan. 1, 2026, ‘unless the gas stove bears an adhesive label attached in a conspicuous location.’”

• The label would read: “WARNING: Gas stoves can release nitrogen dioxide, benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and other harmful pollutants into the air, which can be toxic to people and pets. Stove emissions, especially from gas stoves, are associated with increased respiratory disease. Young children, people with asthma and people with heart or lung disease are especially vulnerable to the toxic effects of combustion pollutants. To help reduce the risk of breathing harmful gases, allow ventilation in the area and turn on a vent hood when gas-powered stoves and ranges are in use.”
• Under the measure, online sellers of gas stoves would be required to post the warning on their websites.

The background: The bill’s introduction comes less than seven months after the Energy Department finalized its home appliance energy-efficiency standards, loosened from earlier iterations after advocacy by the NAM and others. 

• Under the rules finalized in January, some 97% of gas stove models and 77% of smooth electric stove models are compliant with efficiency standards.

Why it’s problematic: Jill Notini, spokesperson for NAM advocacy partner the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, told Fox that the proposed legislation constitutes “another attempt at scaring consumer[s] about their gas products.”

• “As currently proposed, [it] would force companies to make false, misleading and scientifically debated assertions, including that the products have serious deleterious health effects without a strong scientific consensus that they do,” she said.