Statement from AHAM President & CEO Kelly Mariotti:
AHAM commends California Governor Gavin Newsom, who stood on the side of science and vetoed AB 2513, a controversial bill that would have required a health warning label to be affixed to all gas cooking products.
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. In fact, ventilation is recommended for all types of cooking.
In addition, locking health and safety warnings into statute fails to meet the public need for updated, accurate information in the future as new information becomes available.
Misleading consumers would have been a step backwards for the health and safety of Californians. “Consumers want fair, accurate, science-based information to aid in their decision-making,” said Kelly Mariotti, AHAM President and CEO. “Our members and staff were tireless in their efforts to ensure California lawmakers understood the misleading nature of what they were proposing .”
In his statement, Newsom noted his concern that the bill “codifies highly prescriptive labeling content that could only be changed by a future statutory amendment. 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.
