Lighting, Cooking, Heating, and Asphyxiation! The Changing Uses and Risks of Manufactured Gas in American Homes, 1870-1940

The introduction of water gas for house lighting in the United States posed a significant risk to public health in the years between 1875 and World War II. Water gas was superior to the older coal gas used as an illuminant but a far more lethal source of asphyxiation. Its introduction generated a battle between gas companies and public health experts who wished to prohibit use of the new gas. The companies prevailed; Massachusetts and later national data reveal that the victory of water gas led to death rates from asphyxiation that exceeded those from communicable diseases such as measles and scarlet fever. Yet by the 1920s economics incentives were reducing the role of water gas. and, as gas use evolved from illumination to heating and cooking, the market focused gas companies on the danger that asphyxiations from faulty appliances might frighten away new businesses, a concern that was reinforced by public health experts and state and local regulation. In response, the American Gas Association developed appliance safety standards and a standard gas code that is the basis for all modern gas regulations.