Dan Walters (CALmatters Commentary, July 19, 2020) wrote an odd column (“High living costs make people poor”) that blames systemic poverty in California on “blue-state policies” that cut air pollution and address the climate crisis. He singled out cities passing all-electric ordinances as particularly problematic, framing his argument around a high electricity rate in California.
Actually, Californians have among the lowest energy bills in the country. Our rates are higher than the national average, but the actual dollar amount spent is lower, which is expected from a state implementing solid efficiency programs. Moreover, Walters is missing the point: this is about the health and future of our children.
I am a practicing pediatrician in Richmond, one of the more than 30 cities in the state addressing the problems with burning fossil fuels in our homes. Richmond is not a city of “high personal incomes.” It has a working class history and a startling poverty problem. My patients suffer from asthma at twice the national average. They’re breathing in pollution from multiple sources in our community: the Chevron refinery, the Levin coal shipping terminal and gas appliances in their homes.
Children who grow up in a home with a gas stove are up to 42% more likely to develop asthma symptoms, a respiratory disease for kids that costs families in California $693 million every year. That means expensive treatments, hospital admissions, lost school days and lost workdays. It also means shutting the door on opportunities for children. Recently, I told a patient’s family that their son could no longer play baseball because he has asthma and it risked his health too much.
These same polluting appliances are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and to the climate crisis. The climate crisis is a health emergency, especially for our kids. Climate change is regressive: poor communities and communities of color are feeling the health effects of climate change more than wealthy and white communities.
We have a solution for polluting appliances at our door. Cities have begun to act. Efficient appliances like heat pumps and induction stoves are already available. Richmond adopted a reach code for the sake of our health. I’m not interested in a columnist in Sacramento belittling our dedicated progress as “a well-meaning campaign.” I’m interested in doing something about a longstanding health risk and bringing in all-electric appliances to new homes. I want to protect our children’s health, now and tomorrow.
Dr. Amanda Millstein, Richmond pediatrician and founder of Climate Health Now.
There are a numbers of reports that do show that gas stoves result in high level of air pollutants in the kitchen air, especially if the exhaust fan is not adequate or not always used when the gas is on (few to none of those I know have the fan on always while cooking). Electric induction cooktop provide the same performance as gas, and are used and loved by an increasing number of top chefs. You can find these reports by searching, via google, for “dangers from gas cooktops”. Harmful pollutants from burning natural gas include nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and particulate matter. Here is one study sponsored by the US Dept of Energy: https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1172959 . With respect to gas stove use contributing asthma, a google search on “does gas cooking cause asthma”, much comes up, including a reference to this paper ( Knibbs, L., et al, “Damp housing, gas stoves, and the burden of childhood asthma in Australia”, Medical Journal of Australia, 2018 (7): 299-302 ) indicating that 12% of childhood asthma is caused by gas stoves.
I searched the internet for “Childhood Causes of Asthma”. I found scores and scores of sites that addressed the topic of childhood asthma and the causes.
I could not fine a single one that supports Dr. Amanda Millstein’s assertion.
My uncle is a distinguished MD/PhD at the UC School of Davis and I’ve read many of his published research papers. They always have lots of footnotes to support key assertions and references. So I wondered why Dr. Millstein didn’t. So then I did a little more research.
What I’m saying is: Please conduct a little of your own research whenever you find outrageous claims published, especially when published from unfamiliar sources.
–Dai Meagher, Piedmont Resident
and I could not find a single supporting reference for