Philip Klein of National Review Online highlights one major media outlet’s false reporting about gas stoves.
CNN has taken the hysteria over gas stoves to a new level, as CNN’s climate correspondent Bill Weir falsely claimed that “science” showed using a gas stove in an apartment was as dangerous as parking a car in it with the engine running.
After spending some time condescendingly portraying those who prefer cooking their meals with gas as manipulated by advertising, Weir unleashed this doozy: “The science is showing us having a gas stove, in a small apartment especially with bad ventilation, is like having a car idling there.” (Video below).
Science shows no such thing.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s page on carbon monoxide in homes:
“Average levels in homes without gas stoves vary from 0.5 to 5 parts per million (ppm). Levels near properly adjusted gas stoves are often 5 to 15 ppm and those near poorly adjusted stoves may be 30 ppm or higher.”
Other gases are released by stoves, but they pale in comparison to what a running car would release indoors. Meanwhile, Iowa State University writes of keeping an engine on in a closed building:
“So dangerous that it must NEVER be done, even for a short time. The extremely high concentrations of carbon monoxide produced by an engine can raise CO concentrations in a closed building so quickly that a person may collapse before they even realize there is a problem. Carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen to the brain, causing CO intoxication, and lack of reasoning. Studies by the Centers for Disease Control found that CO concentrations reach the Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH) concentration of 1,200 parts per million (ppm) in only 7 minutes when a small 5 horsepower gasoline engine is run in a 10,000 cubic foot room.” …
… In other words, two minutes of warming up a car indoors releases nearly 17 times more carbon monoxide than exists in a home operating a gas stove that has not been properly adjusted.
