Mounting evidence shows that gas stoves — used in nearly 40% of U.S. homes — pose serious health risks.
Now, Coloradans have a new tool to learn about the dangers of cooking with little blue flames. Gas stoves sold in the state will need a yellow health-warning label under a first-in-the-nation law that went into effect earlier this month.
“It's fair to warn people, especially if they have health impacts from [poor] air quality, to know what they're buying in advance,” said state Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Democrat who cosponsored the legislation.
Like other gas-burning appliances and gasoline-burning cars, gas ranges spew noxious compounds such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Even off, they emit benzene, a potent carcinogen found in secondhand cigarette smoke; breathing in the fumes from gas ranges increases the risk of cancer, especially in kids. Children in homes with gas stoves are also estimated to be 42% more likely to develop asthma.
“We know that this information has not been reaching the public at the point of sale,” said Kirsten Schatz, public advocate at the nonprofit CoPIRG Foundation.
Since the 1970s, fossil-fuel companies have cited industry-backed research and hired scientists to discount evidence that gas stoves cause harm, according to an investigation by NPR. In 2024, the U.S. gas-stove market was estimated at $3.8 billion. In a 2022 survey of retail stores in 10 states, public advocacy group U.S. PIRG, affiliated with CoPIRG, found that most salespeople said they were unaware of the health risks of gas stoves.
Manufacturers have thrown up a hurdle to the new rules; they've asked the federal district court in Colorado to freeze the law’s enforcement. Violators would normally face an up to $20,000 fine, but on Wednesday, the state’s attorney general agreed not to enforce the rules until the court reaches a decision, according to Abe Scarr, energy and utilities program director at PIRG.
Though Colorado is the first state to mandate warning labels, Massachusetts and New York could be next. Last year, proposals in Illinois and California both failed, though the Golden State got close; ultimately, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed the bill.
Colorado’s new requirements follow other policies — from building ordinances to performance standards to air-quality regulations — adopted at state and municipal levels to rein in the sale of gas equipment. More than 70 local governments are ensuring gas appliances aren’t installed in most new buildings by requiring new construction to be all-electric. In July, New York became the first state to codify such rules.
Under Colorado’s law, gas-stove warning labels need to bear the phrase, “Understand the air quality implications of having an indoor gas stove.” The stickers will have a URL link or QR code that directs curious consumers to a state webpage. Colorado requires that the site, created and maintained by its Department of Public Health and Environment, provides “credible, evidence-based information on the health impacts of gas-fueled stoves.”
The warnings only need to be displayed on floor models or the website on which they’re being sold, Kipp said. “We made it really simple for manufacturers to comply,” she added, but still, “they just don't want to do it.”
In a federal lawsuit filed Aug. 5, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers alleges that Colorado is compelling its members to endorse a warning label that directs consumers to “non-consensus, scientifically controversial, and factually misleading” information. In doing so, the industry group continues, the state is violating its members’ First Amendment rights “to be free from ... unconstitutional compelled speech.”
“The lawsuit is frivolous,” Kipp said. “It's well within the authority of our Colorado legislature to pass laws that implement consumer protections.”
While appliance makers are portraying the science as unsettled, “that’s not true,” Kipp said.
Several nonpartisan nonprofit organizations recognize the large body of peer-reviewed research on gas-stove pollution and have voiced support for warning labels, Schatz said, including the American Public Health Association, American Lung Association, American Medical Association, and American Thoracic Society.
The parties to the lawsuit are asking for a hearing to be scheduled in early November, Scarr said. They’ve also agreed to a deposition — sworn testimony outside the courtroom — of any witness whom appliance manufacturers rely on to make their case.
"This litigation is set to become a battle of the experts regarding the health impacts of gas stoves,” Scarr said. “Given the science, we're confident the state can win."
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