The Environmental Safety Company mentioned Tuesday it has finalized a ban on client makes use of of methylene chloride, a chemical that’s broadly used as a paint stripper however is thought to trigger liver most cancers and different well being issues.
The EPA mentioned its motion will defend Individuals from well being dangers whereas permitting sure industrial makes use of to proceed with strong employee protections.
The rule banning methylene chloride is the second danger administration rule to be finalized by President Joe Biden’s administration underneath landmark 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act. The primary was an motion final month to ban asbestos, a carcinogen that kills tens of hundreds of Individuals yearly however remains to be utilized in some chlorine bleach, brake pads and different merchandise.
“Exposure to methylene chloride has devastated families across this country for too long, including some who saw loved ones go to work and never come home,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan mentioned in an announcement. The brand new rule , he mentioned, “brings an end to unsafe methylene chloride practices and implements the strongest worker protections possible for the few remaining industrial uses, ensuring no one in this country is put in harm’s way by this dangerous chemical.”
Methylene chloride, additionally known as dichloromethane, is a colorless liquid that emits a poisonous vapor that has killed at the least 88 employees since 1980, the EPA mentioned. Lengthy-term well being results embrace quite a lot of cancers, together with liver most cancers and lung most cancers, and injury to the nervous, immune and reproductive methods.
The EPA rule would ban all client makes use of however enable sure “critical” makes use of within the army and industrial processing, with employee protections in place, mentioned Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Workplace of Chemical Security and Air pollution Prevention.
Methylene chloride will proceed to be allowed to make refrigerants as a substitute for different chemical compounds that produce greenhouse gases and contribute to local weather change, Freedhoff mentioned. It additionally shall be allowed to be used in electrical automobile batteries and for vital army capabilities.
“The uses we think can safely continue (all) happen in sophisticated industrial settings, and in some cases there are no real substitutes available,” Freedhoff mentioned.
The chemical business has argued that the EPA is overstating the dangers of methylene chloride and that enough protections have mitigated well being dangers.
The American Chemistry Council, the business’s high lobbying group, known as methylene chloride “an essential compound” used to make many merchandise and items Individuals depend on daily, together with paint stripping, pharmaceutical manufacturing and steel cleansing and degreasing.
An EPA proposal final yr may introduce “regulatory uncertainty and confusion” with current publicity limits set by the federal Occupational Security and Well being Administration, the group mentioned.
The chemical council additionally mentioned it was involved that the EPA had not absolutely evaluated the rule’s impacts on the home provide chain and will find yourself prohibiting as much as half of all finish makes use of topic to regulation underneath the Poisonous Substances Management Act.
Whereas the EPA banned one client use of methylene chloride in 2019, use of the chemical has remained widespread and continues to pose vital and generally deadly hazard to employees, the company mentioned. The EPA’s closing danger administration rule requires corporations to quickly part down manufacturing, processing and distribution of methylene chloride for all client makes use of and most industrial and industrial makes use of, together with in house renovations.
Shopper use shall be phased out inside a yr, and most industrial and industrial makes use of shall be prohibited inside two years.
Liz Hitchcock, director of a safer chemical compounds program for the advocacy group Poisonous-Free Future, praised the brand new rule however added: “As glad as we are to see today’s rule banning all consumer and most commercial uses, we are concerned that limits to its scope will allow continued exposure for too many workers to methylene chloride’s dangerous and deadly effects.”
Customers ought to search for labels indicating {that a} product is free from methylene chloride, mentioned the toxic-free group, which has printed an inventory of paint and polish strippers and removers offered by main U.S. retailers that don’t include it.
Wendy Hartley, whose son Kevin died from methylene chloride poisoning after refinishing a tub at work, known as the brand new rule “a huge step that will protect vulnerable workers.”
Kevin Hartley, 21, of Tennessee, died in 2017. He was an organ donor, Wendy Hartley mentioned, including that due to the EPA’s actions, “Kevin’s death will continue to save lives.”
