FACT CHECK: Joe Biden is not coming for your gas stove

Right-wing media’s newest culture war du jour is the use of gas stoves. Following a Bloomberg report where the head of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) discussed safety hazards of emissions from gas stoves, the right decided that meant President Biden was coming to take the gas stove out of your kitchen.

Fox News personalities spent hours this week raging on air about the egregious affront to freedom that this would represent. Politicians like republican Congressman Ronny Jackson and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis expressed their anger online and vowed not to comply with the White House’s alleged stove grab.

However this story, of course, is an outright lie.

While it is true that Commissioner Richard Trumpka, Jr. said that “[p]roducts that cannot be made safe can be banned,” he never stated that a ban was imminent or that POTUS had directed him to consider a ban. The CPSC clarified on Wednesday that they are not looking to ban gas stoves, rather they are seeking out ways to reduce harmful emissions.

The same article that caused the controversy also lays out empirical research about the dangers of household emissions from gas stoves:

Natural gas stoves, which are used in about 40% of homes in the US, emit air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter at levels the EPA and World Health Organization have said are unsafe and linked to respiratory illness, cardiovascular problems, cancer, and other health conditions, according to reports by groups such as the Institute for Policy Integrity and the American Chemical Society. Consumer Reports, in October, urged consumers planning to buy a new range to consider going electric after tests conducted by the group found high levels of nitrogen oxide gases from gas stoves.

Research published at the end of 2022 also shows that gas stoves are likely the cause of nearly 13% of childhood asthma cases in the US.

The Biden administration is making historic progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting Americans. However, no one from the government will be busting down the doors of the 40 million homes with a gas stove to remove it.

Rather, this is another example of a bad-faith attack on the president launched by right-wing lawmakers and media personalities.