As Jazz pointed out earlier, the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a statement yesterday directly contradicting something that has been said Monday by one of the CPSC’s board members. Monday’s statement, which was part of an interview, indicated that the board was looking at banning gas stoves. Yesterday’s statement said they definitely were not.

In between those two statements there was all sorts of activity from those who supported the gas stove ban and from those who opposed it. But the key point here is that a member of the government body with regulatory control over gas stoves did actually suggest a ban. CNN reported it under the headline “A US federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves, report says.” [emphasis added]

A federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves as concerns about indoor pollution linked to childhood asthma rise, Bloomberg first reported.

A US Consumer Product Safety commissioner told Bloomberg gas stove usage is a “hidden hazard.”

“Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” agency commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said in a Bloomberg interview. The report said the agency plans “to take action” to address the indoor pollution caused by stoves. CNN has reached out to the CPSC for comment.

Trumka walked that back a bit on the same day he said it but many on the left were off to the races. Here’s AOC tweeting out a joke/talking point about the danger of gas stoves.

Did you know that ongoing exposure to NO2 from gas stoves is linked to reduced cognitive performance https://t.co/1bjmHqnHVa

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 11, 2023

Jackson was quick to point out that AOC has a gas stove in her house.

.@aoc says gas stoves cause “reduced cognitive performance” – yet she uses a gas stove? Is this a self diagnosis? AOC, as a medical doctor, I can tell you this: what’s wrong with your head IS NOT caused by stoves. Something WAY BIGGER is causing your decreased cognitive function! pic.twitter.com/yYF90wXiGu

— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) January 11, 2023

AOC is just one example of a wider phenomenon. After Trumka’s statement about a possible ban, the media was full of articles about the dangers of gas stoves. The Washington Post jumped on the bandwagon Tuesday with a story titled “There’s a secret pollution source in 40 million homes. The U.S. may try to ban it.”

For years, scientists and health advocates have tried to bring attention to a secret source of air pollution sitting in 40 million homes around the United States — whichjump-starts childhood asthma, increases the risk of respiratory problems, and emits planet warming-gasses.

It’s the gas stove.

And now, those efforts seem to be gaining traction. On Monday, Richard Trumka Jr., one of the four commissioners of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in an interview that the agency was considering a ban on gas stoves — or, at least, standards around the amount of toxic fumes such stoves can spew into Americans’ kitchens. Some cities — including Los Angeles, Seattle and New York — have already moved to ban gas stoves in certain new homes and apartments. Kathy Hochul (D), the governor of New York, has also proposed banning gas hookups, including for gas stoves, in new buildings in the entire state.

Your appliances are trying to kill you! They’re already in the house!

But the most interesting part of this news cycle was what happened after the CPSC chairman made it clear yesterday that no such ban was going to happen. Suddenly, the media shifted from promoting the idea of a gas stove ban to ridiculing conservatives for even suggesting the idea that a ban was a possibility. So here’s that same Washington Post story after it was rewritten yesterday. The new headline which removes the word “ban” is ” U.S. agency examines secret pollution source in 40 million homes: Gas stoves.”

For years, scientists and health advocates have tried to bring attention to a secret source of air pollution sitting in 40 million homes around the United States — whichjump-starts childhood asthma, increases the risk of respiratory problems and emits planet-warming gasses.

It’s the gas stove.

And now, those efforts seem to be gaining traction. On Monday, Richard Trumka Jr., one of the four commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), said in an interview that the U.S. agency was considering a ban on gas stoves — or, at least, standards around the amount of toxic fumes such stoves can spew into Americans’ kitchens.

On Wednesday, the commission’s chair said it would not ban gas stoves, but was researching health risks of gas stoves and possible increases to safety standards.

So the story was stealth corrected Wednesday and the same day the Post published another story titled “How the humble gas stove became the latest flash point in the culture wars.” This one turned the focus a bit toward the GOP reaction.

Republicans and allies of fossil fuels are rallying behind the humble gas stove, a staple in millions of U.S. kitchens that has emerged as a flash point in the nation’s ongoing culture wars and a source of conservative resistance to President Biden’s environmental agenda.

The controversy was ignited when a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an agency charged with protecting the public from dangerous household products, said in mid-December that the commission will consider regulating indoor air pollution from gas stoves. On Monday, Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr., a Democrat, said in an interview that he had not ruled out a ban on the appliances, prompting the agency to pivot Wednesday and clarify it was not planning a ban…

By raising fears of a ban on gas stoves, Republicans are in some ways taking a page from former president Donald Trump, who often complained about energy-efficiency standards for household appliances — including lightbulbs that make you “look orange,” toilets that “don’t get any water,” showers that lack a “full shower flow” and “worthless” dishwashers.

That story’s attempt to connect all of this to Trump is pretty weak but it least it does include what Trumka said to prompt the reaction early on in the story. Today the Post has another story up titled “GOP thrusts gas stoves, Biden’s green agenda into the culture wars” which seems to have turned a corner into gaslighting. Here’s how it opens.

Republican lawmakers are claiming that the Consumer Product Safety Commission wants to take away people’s gas stoves, in what they say is the latest example of the Biden administration’s regulatory overreach, Maxine reports.

In reality, the commission is not going to snatch anyone’s stove. It is merely considering regulations that would seek to curb pollution from new gas stoves on the market, rather than existing appliances inside people’s homes.

Yet the gas stove furor is emblematic of Republicans’ broader efforts to thrust President Biden’s environmental agenda into the nation’s ongoing culture wars. With the GOP taking control of the House, these efforts could increase pressure on federal agencies as they race to finalize climate regulations over the next two years, experts say.

If you keep reading the story does eventually explain that this all started with Trumka but the focus has changed from his comments to a GOP plot to oppose Biden’s green agenda. Other outlets have published similar stories today. This one by Axios doesn’t even make sense as written. It’s headlined: “Right’s new fight: Gas stoves.”

Despite official insistence that fears of a ban are unfounded, conservatives are suddenly championing gas stoves in a new culture war…

Driving the news: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) — which regulates a range of consumer products for safety and health risks — on Wednesday forcefully denied that it was considering a ban on gas stoves.

• The backlash was sparked by an interview Richard Trumka Jr., one of the agency’s four commissioners, gave to Bloomberg this week suggesting one was “on the table.”

Yes, but: That didn’t stop congressional Republicans from turning up the heat.

The author writes “Yes, but that didn’t stop congressional Republicans from turning up the heat.” As written the “yes, but” comes despite the denial, i.e. there was a denial but Repubilcans turned up the heat anyway. But the denial happened two days after the “backlash was sparked” by Trumka’s comments. So Axios appears to be faulting Republicans for a backlash that happened before the denial was issued. It really makes no sense as written. In fact, what’s actually driving the news was Trumka’s comments Monday. But I guess Axios didn’t want to frame it that way because then you can’t paint Republicans as overreacting.

To sum all of this up. A Democrat on the CPSC suggested banning gas stoves was an option on Monday. The media jumped in with stories supporting the idea. Republicans said no. By Wednesday the CPSC issued a denial. And today the carefully revised story is that the GOP had a freakout over nothing at all. I’m sure lots of people will come away believing that’s what happened but it’s just more media gaslighting.