2023 U.S. Gas Stove Ban Hoax

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About

2023 U.S. Gas Stove Ban Hoax refers to a hoax and subsequent viral debate about stoves that use natural gas supposedly being banned in the United States, which sparked media coverage, memes and widespread outrage online in early January 2023. The hoax also notably incited false claims that the Biden Administration wanted to ban such stoves from American homes. The origination of the controversy began when studies published at the end of 2022 found that gas stoves increased the risk of asthma in children, with government officials then commenting on these studies shortly after and provocative news coverage subsequently going viral. A heated debate ensued, with many on the right claiming that the government aimed to confiscate gas stoves and others on the left making fun of these fears.

Origin

The idea of a gas stove ban in America initially went viral because of quotes by Richard Trumka Jr., a commissioner at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which were included in a Bloomberg News article published on January 9th, 2023. In the article, titled "US Safety Agency to Consider Ban on Gas Stoves Amid Health Fears," Trumka said that gas stoves were a "hidden hazard" and "any option is on the table" to deal with them.^[1]

Trumka's claims were based on research published in 2022, which reported that gas stoves might be responsible for up to 13 percent of childhood asthma cases in the U.S.^[2] Trumka and others had reportedly floated the possibility of a ban on new gas stoves as early as December 14th, 2022, however.^[3]

Spread

Articles about the connection between gas stoves and asthma appeared in publications like The Washington Post and The Guardian in the first week of 2023, leading to some online commentary.^[4] Despite some of this early coverage, Trumka's remarks in the Bloomberg article on January 9th, 2023, sparked a first wave of right-wing commentators and others to protest the possible gas stove ban, particularly speaking out on Twitter.

For example, on January 9th, 2023, Twitter user Chef Andrew Gruel posted a video saying he was taping himself to his gas stove "forever" in protest of the rumored ban. The video (seen below), received over 216,000 views and 11,000 likes in two days. Gruel claimed the following day that had been there for 24 hours.^[10]

On January 10th, Congressman Ronny Jackson (R-TX) tweeted defiantly about gas stoves (seen below), earning just under 43,000 likes in two days.^[5] Many other Twitter users then proceeded to join the gas stove discourse that same day as it trended online. Also on the 10th, Twitter^[6] user @StephHoover8 tweeted another example of backlash referencing the supposed ban in a meme mocking preferred pronouns, receiving just over 160 likes in the course of a day (seen below, right).

A counter-backlash emerged shortly after, with many left-leaning posters and other users making fun of the right-leaning posters for spreading alarm about a rumored gas stove ban. For example, on January 11th, 2023, Twitter^[7] user @jasonselvig posted a tweet mocking the passion of gas stove defenders (seen below, top), which earned almost 2,400 likes in just over 12 hours.^[7] On January 12th, user @LouisPeitzman also made fun of gas stove defenders in a tweet (seen below bottom), which earned almost 1,000 likes in two hours.^[8]

Also on January 10th, 2023, Snopes^[11] published an article addressing the claim that Biden’s administration was planning to ban gas stoves over concerns surrounding climate change, stating that the rumor was "false" and provided the following context:

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a federal agency, is not currently considering a ban on gas stoves, though a commissioner said "anything is on the table" if they can't be made safer, due to concerns over harmful indoor pollutants that cause health and respiratory problems. Numerous cities and counties have already enforced policies requiring a shift from fossil fuel-powered buildings. The CPSC also said that no regulatory guidelines are currently in place and adding any would “involve a lengthy process."

On January 11th, CPSC chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric then released a public statement on the CPSC website stating, "To be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so."^[12] The statement quickly spread to Twitter alongside the viral debate, such as Twitter user AriNatter reposting it that same day, receiving over 540 likes in 26 hours (shown below).