The Environmental Safety Company stated Tuesday it has finalized a ban on client makes use of of methylene chloride, a chemical that’s extensively used as a paint stripper however is thought to trigger liver most cancers and different well being issues.
The EPA stated its motion will shield People from well being dangers whereas permitting sure business 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 beneath landmark 2016 amendments to the Poisonous Substances Management Act. The primary was an motion final month to ban asbestos, a carcinogen that kills tens of hundreds of People yearly however remains to be utilized in some chlorine bleach, brake pads and different merchandise.
“Publicity to methylene chloride has devastated households throughout this nation for too lengthy, together with some who noticed family members go to work and by no means come residence,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan stated in a press release. The brand new rule , he stated, “brings an finish to unsafe methylene chloride practices and implements the strongest employee protections potential for the few remaining industrial makes use of, guaranteeing nobody on this nation is put in hurt’s manner by this harmful chemical.”
Methylene chloride, additionally known as dichloromethane, is a colorless liquid that emits a poisonous vapor that has killed not less than 88 employees since 1980, the EPA stated. Lengthy-term well being results embody quite a lot of cancers, together with liver most cancers and lung most cancers, and harm to the nervous, immune and reproductive programs.
The EPA rule would ban all client makes use of however permit sure “crucial” makes use of within the army and industrial processing, with employee protections in place, stated 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 an alternative choice to different chemical substances that produce greenhouse gases and contribute to local weather change, Freedhoff stated. It additionally will likely be allowed to be used in electrical car batteries and for crucial army features.
“The makes use of we predict can safely proceed (all) occur in subtle industrial settings, and in some instances there aren’t any actual substitutes obtainable,” Freedhoff stated.
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 important compound” used to make many merchandise and items People depend on daily, together with paint stripping, pharmaceutical manufacturing and metallic cleansing and degreasing.
An EPA proposal final yr might introduce “regulatory uncertainty and confusion” with present publicity limits set by the federal Occupational Security and Well being Administration, the group stated.
The chemical council additionally stated it was involved that the EPA had not totally 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 beneath 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 typically deadly hazard to employees, the company stated. The EPA’s ultimate 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 business makes use of, together with in residence renovations.
Shopper use will likely be phased out inside a yr, and most industrial and business makes use of will likely be prohibited inside two years.
Liz Hitchcock, director of a safer chemical substances program for the advocacy group Poisonous-Free Future, praised the brand new rule however added: “As glad as we’re to see at this time’s rule banning all client and most business makes use of, we’re involved that limits to its scope will permit continued publicity for too many employees to methylene chloride’s harmful and lethal results.”
Shoppers ought to search for labels indicating {that a} product is free from methylene chloride, stated the toxic-free group, which has revealed an inventory of paint and polish strippers and removers bought by main U.S. retailers that don’t include it.
Wendy Hartley, whose son Kevin died from methylene chloride poisoning after refinishing a bath at work, known as the brand new rule “an enormous step that can shield weak employees.”
Kevin Hartley, 21, of Tennessee, died in 2017. He was an organ donor, Wendy Hartley stated, including that due to the EPA’s actions, “Kevin’s dying will proceed to avoid wasting lives.”
