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One memo suggests the Biden-appointed federal regulator was seriously considering a ban on gas stoves, before lighting up a storm by saying “every option is on the table.”
Fox News reported Thursday that Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. wrote a memo on October 24, 2022 to another commissioner saying there was enough evidence for CPSC to begin the rulemaking process to ban new gas stoves .
“The need to regulate gas stoves has reached a boiling point,” Trumka said.
It was not clear if the pun was intentional.
“CPSC has a responsibility to ban consumer products that emit hazardous substances, particularly when those emissions harm children, under the federal Hazardous Substances Act,” Trumka wrote. “The emerging evidence is sufficient to conclude that gas stoves in homes emit toxic gases that cause illness and that safer, lower-cost alternatives exist.”
A memo written by Richard Trumka Jr. (left), who was appointed by President Joe Biden (right), shows that banning gas stoves was on the table in October. Trumka unleashed a firestorm around appliances after a Bloomberg interview in January
Trumka argued that gas stoves have been linked to higher rates of childhood asthma, noting that appliances are already banned in new construction in New York and Los Angeles “for health and inequity reasons.”
Trumka noted that New York and Los Angeles had already banned stoves in new construction for “health and inequity reasons.”
He also said they contributed to climate change.
“Sufficient information is available for the CPSC to issue an NPR in fiscal year 2023 proposing to ban gas stoves in homes,” he said. ‘The additional work required to complete an NPR is primarily economic; There is already available sanitary and scientific evidence on the diseases caused by the corresponding gases in the concentrations present in homes with gas stoves.’
Trumka’s memo arrived three months ago before the Bloomberg interviewwhere he called them a “hidden danger” and pointed to new research linking the gadgets to childhood asthma.
The comments triggered a frenzy on the political right, and the White House was forced to respond.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president “does not support a ban on gas stoves.”
“And the independent Consumer Product Safety Commission is not banning gas stoves,” Jean-Pierre said at his Jan. 11 briefing.
Even before the briefing, Trumka tweeted, explaining: ‘To be clear, CPSC is not coming for anyone’s gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products.’
Still, Republicans were quick to defend the right to have gasoline.
Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician, said he would rather die than cook with electricity.
‘I will NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can snatch it from my cold, dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!’ Jackson said.
When Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that “continued NO2 exposure from gas stoves is associated with reduced cognitive performance,” Jackson criticized her, sharing a photo of the New York congresswoman’s gas stove.
‘AOC says gas stoves cause ‘reduced cognitive performance’, but does she use a gas stove? Is this a self-diagnosis? Jackson tweeted. ‘AOC, as a doctor, I can tell you this: what happens to your head IS NOT caused by stoves. Something MUCH BIGGER is causing your cognitive function to decline!’
Jackson even went as far as setting up a URL: SaveTheStoves.com – which links to a WinRed donations page, which asks visitors to sign a petition, but also signs them up to receive text messages and calls from Jackson’s congressional campaign.
We can’t let the maniacs in the White House get away with it! Add your name now to the official petition to SAVE OUR STOVES!’ says the website.
Several Republicans pointed to a 2020 tweet that showed First Lady Jill Biden cooking vegetables with gas.
“Rules for you, but not for me,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted, sharing the photo of the first lady.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and a possible 2024 Republican hopeful, kept the gas stove controversy alive this week by proposing a permanent sales tax break for appliances.
“They want their gas stove, and we’re not going to let that happen,” the Republican said.