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White House: Biden Won't Take Your Gas Stove Away

President doesn't support idea floated by Consumer Product Safety Commission member
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 10, 2023 1:01 AM CST
Updated Jan 12, 2023 8:52 AM CST
CPSC Considers Banning Gas Stoves: Report
Stock photo.   (Getty Images / simpson33)
UPDATE Jan 12, 2023 8:52 AM CST

The White House has reassured Americans that President Biden isn't going to try to take away their gas stoves. After Consumer Product Safety Commission member Richard Trumka Jr. suggested that a ban or regulation was possible for the "hidden hazards," conservatives including Sen. Tom Cotton warned that "Democrats are coming for your kitchen appliances," the Guardian reports. Officials said that while emission regulations for new products haven't been ruled out, there is no ban in the works. "The president does not support banning gas stoves," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday, per NBC. "And the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves. I just want to be very clear on that." CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric said he is "not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so."

Jan 10, 2023 1:01 AM CST

On the heels of a damning report that gas stoves are responsible for 13% of child asthma cases in the US comes news that a federal agency is considering banning the appliances. "Products that can’t be made safe can be banned," a commissioner for the Consumer Product Safety Commission tells Bloomberg. He says "any option is on the table" for the "hidden hazard" of gas stoves, found in more than a third of homes in the nation. As CNN reports, the CPSC has been considering making a move on the appliances for months; the same agency commissioner in October recommended the safety agency collect public comments on the matter.

Now, he tells Bloomberg, that public comment period is expected to be opened. If they are not banned, there are other steps that can be taken, including setting standards on the emissions from them. Without proper ventilation, gas stoves can cause levels of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and fine particulate matter to a concentration declared unsafe by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the appliances have been linked to other respiratory ailments beyond asthma as well. The CPSC says a "lengthy process" will be involved before any regulatory action is taken. Some cities have been taking it upon themselves to ban natural gas hookups in new construction, while in some red states, such bans have been preemptively prohibited from ever taking effect. (More stove stories.)

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