The Consumer Products Safety Commission will begin soliciting information in the coming months on the dangers posed by gas stoves to human health. Citing the pollution emitted by stoves, Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said, “We need to be talking about regulating gas stoves,” and called phasing out new gas stoves “a real possibility.”

Gas stoves can produce dangerous levels of indoor air pollution, and even when turned off can leak significant amounts of heat-trapping methane as well as numerous other toxic and carcinogenic pollutants including “BTEX” chemicals (​​benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene). Minutes from a CPSC meeting in late October show the Commission directed staff to obtain public input on hazards associated with gas stoves. Trumka’s remarks came during a webinar hosted by U.S. PIRG, which published a report this week finding retailers do not inform customers of the dangerous health impacts of gas stoves. (Trumka & stores: The Hill; CPSC: The Hill)