Some historical context:

> In 1960, New York City prohibited the sale of paint with high levels of lead for residential use, New York state imposed a state-wide ban in 1970, and the federal government banned lead in paint in 1978.

The dangers of lead were known before leaded gas was even invented much less popularized. But immediate profits and convenience are much stronger human motivators than long term health consequences ever are.

See also PFOA and similar. Health impacts were known for 20+ years but it was too profitable so those reports were buried and lobbied against. And consumers weren't eager to acknowledge their amazingly convenient non-stick pans were directly poisoning hundreds of people and causing long-term issues in thousands more.

Now gas stoves are a little bit more unique in that the proponents aren't profit hungry corporations doing shadowy bribery but instead countless chefs who prefer it and will demand it, consequences to themselves be damned.

> But immediate profits and convenience are much stronger human motivators than long term health consequences ever are.

This specific case was worse, it was intentionally introduced to increase and maintain long term profits, despite it was inconvenient to manufacture.

It's arguably less dangerous than lead paint. If don't let lead paint deteriorate and clean regularly then the health risk is minimal.

There's no comparable mitigation option for gas stoves. Installing a fune hood involves cutting a hole in the wall, no chance your landlord will ok they in a cheap place.

It's called a window. It works pretty well usually.

Induction is better and can be cheaper