California governor vetoes bill to require gas stove warning labels

California’s governor vetoed a bill Friday night that would have required appliance makers to put labels on gas-burning ranges and cooktops, warning potential buyers that they emit harmful pollutants.

Had the governor signed the bill, it would have made California the first state to mandate warning labels on gas stoves. Instead, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto is a setback for efforts by climate and public health advocates to encourage the shift to all-electric home appliances - part of a broader movement to reduce indoor air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

“We are disappointed that Governor Newsom vetoed legislation to give consumers more information about the health risks of gas stoves,” said Jenn Engstrom, the state director of the consumer advocacy group U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s California organization. “Gas stove emissions increase the risk of childhood asthma and other respiratory problems, but most people are unaware of this threat. Consumers deserve the truth when it comes to the danger of cooking with gas.”

The proposed labels would have included language advising customers that gas stoves release nitrogen dioxide and benzene, a known carcinogen, and other pollutants that “can be toxic to people and pets.” They also would have noted that “young children, people with asthma, and people with heart or lung disease are especially vulnerable.”

In his veto message, Newsom said he was concerned the bill was “highly prescriptive” and would be difficult to amend in the future. “This static approach falls short in enabling timely updates to the labeling content that should align with the latest scientific knowledge so that consumers are accurately informed about their purchases,” he said.

Engstrom said the idea for the requirement came out of research by U.S. PIRG, which has twice sent secret shoppers, posing as customers, to stores to evaluate how much employees disclosed about gas stove pollution. In appliance stores across 11 states, they found 76% of the sales people they talked to knew little to nothing about the potential health risks. About 15% of sales staff recommended gas stoves over electric or induction cooktops “even when the secret shopper voiced concerns about pollution,” said the report, which was released in February.

Engstrom visited stores as an undercover shopper and asked employees whether she should buy a range hood to pair with a gas stove.

“They were like, ‘It’s totally up to you if you want one or not,’” she said. Studies have shown that ventilation can reduce pollutant exposure from gas stoves. “I was like, that’s pretty important!”

A majority of California lawmakers thought so, too. The bill would have required the warning labels to say: “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.”

Appliance manufacturers fought the proposed warning label legislation, arguing that all stoves create indoor air pollution, whether they’re electric or gas-powered. Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers spokeswoman Jill Notini said the industry group offered to put labels on all cooking products, alerting users that they should ventilate their kitchens to lessen air pollution. But “that went ignored” by California lawmakers, she said.

In a statement released Saturday, Kelly Mariotti, the industry group’s president and CEO, praised Newsom for standing “on the side of science.”

“The label would have been inaccurate and misleading because it incorrectly represents that only cooking with gas benefits from ventilation to preserve indoor air quality,” Mariotti said. “In fact, ventilation is recommended for all types of cooking.”

While it is true that cooking creates particulate matter, one of the most common types of air pollution, it’s the pollutants from fuel combustion and leaking of unburned methane from gas stoves that have most alarmed researchers. The American Public Health Association has called gas cooking stoves “a public health concern,” and the American Medical Association has publicly recognized the link between gas stove usage and asthma.

Evidence of the health risks of gas stoves has been growing for years.

Earlier this year, a study by Stanford University researchers found that typical gas stove use led to levels of nitrogen dioxide exposure exceeding those the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization deem safe. Researchers estimated that about 50,000 current cases of childhood asthma could be linked to nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves. The same study confirmed that food emits little or no nitrogen dioxide as it cooks.

“It’s the fuel, not the food,” said Rob Jackson, the study’s senior author and a professor at the Doerr School of Sustainability.

A 2022 study of Boston area homes, led by Harvard University researchers, found 95% of the gas stoves sampled were leaking benzene. The researchers identified an additional 20 hazardous pollutants in unburned gas coming from stoves.

The gas industry has been critical of some of this research, arguing it unnecessarily stokes consumer fears and overstates the link between gas stoves and childhood asthma.

Abe Scarr, U.S. PIRG’s energy and utilities director, said the group hopes to convince lawmakers in Illinois and New York to pass similar laws. Proposed warning label bills have so far failed to make it out of either state’s legislature, but advocates said they are likely to try again this legislative session.

The consumer watchdog group is also pursuing stove manufacturers in court. Earlier this year, U.S. PIRG filed a lawsuit against Haier U.S. Appliance Solutions in the District of Columbia Superior Court, alleging the company had failed to warn customers about the health risks from gas-burning stoves. Haier owns General Electric’s GE Appliances business.

“The remedy we’re asking for is to have a warning label,” Scarr said.

Other stove makers, including Whirlpool Corp., Samsung Electronics America Inc. and BSH Home Appliances Corp. - maker of Bosch appliances - are facing legal action in the form of a consumer class-action lawsuit over indoor air pollution.

Spokespeople for General Electric and BSH declined to discuss pending litigation. Whirlpool and Samsung did not respond to requests for comment.

Though scientists and health advocates have been sounding the alarm about health risks from gas stoves for years, the issue captured public attention in 2023, when a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in an interview that the U.S. agency was considering regulating pollution from gas stoves and had not ruled out a ban. Agency officials quickly walked back the comments, but they had already set off a furor. Republicans and allies of the fossil fuels industry expressed outrage, firing up their supporters with claims that the Biden administration was trying to ban gas stoves.

Yet the administration never proposed a ban. Rather, at the start of this year, it finalized modest energy-efficiency requirements for gas and electric stoves and ovens designed to curb climate pollution.