The Consumer Product Safety Commission tries to figure out which products have unnecessary risk for the consumer and apply regulation to the manufacturers. It’s

The Consumer Product Safety Commission tries to figure out which products have unnecessary risk for the consumer and apply regulation to the manufacturers. It’s very similar to what the NHTSA does for automobiles. Not accusing parent comment of this, but there’s a flawed attitude that consumers can and will do full research before making a buying decision, and that the “free market” will sort itself out that way. That expectation is unreasonable because forcing the individual citizen to undertake to avoid dangerous products both doesn’t work (because people don’t do that level of research for everything) and reduces individual freedom (because the requirement for work is being foisted onto the person). I’m not really sure of the validity of this stove essay because it’s a wall of statistics, and I’m not arguing that all product regulations are good, but regulations do have a really important role in fostering a healthy and free society.