The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it has finalized a ban on consumer use. methylene chloridea chemical that is widely used as a paint remover but is known to cause liver cancer and other health problems.
The Environmental Protection Agency said its actions will protect Americans from health risks while allowing certain business uses to continue with strong worker protections.
The rule banning methylene chloride is the second risk management rule to be finalized by President Joe Biden’s administration in a landmark moment. 2016 Amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act. The first was an action held last month ban asbestosa carcinogen that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year but is still used in some chlorine bleach, brake pads and other products.
“The effects of methylene chloride have devastated families across the country for too long, including those who saw their loved ones go to work and never return home.” EPA Administrator Michael Regan the statement says. The new rule, he said, “will end the unsafe practices of methylene chloride and provide the greatest possible protection for workers for the few remaining industrial uses, ensuring that no one in this country is put in harm’s way by this dangerous chemical.”
Methylene chloride, also called dichloromethane, is a colorless liquid that produces toxic fumes that have killed at least 88 workers since 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Long-term health effects include various types of cancer, including liver cancer and lung cancer, as well as damage to the nervous, immune and reproductive systems.
The EPA rule prohibits all consumer uses but allows certain “critical” uses in military and industrial processing, subject to worker protections, according to Michal Friedhoff, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
Methylene chloride will still be allowed to be used as a refrigerant as an alternative to other chemicals that produce greenhouse gases and contribute to climate change, Freedhoff said. It will also be allowed to be used in electric vehicle batteries and for critical military functions.
“We believe that all of the uses that we believe can safely continue occur in challenging industrial environments, and in some cases there are no viable substitutes,” Friedhoff said.
The chemical industry argues that the Environmental Protection Agency exaggerates the risks associated with methylene chloride and that adequate protective measures have reduced health risks.
The American Chemistry Council, the industry’s leading lobbying group, has called methylene chloride a “critical compound” used to make many of the products and products Americans rely on every day, including paint removal, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and metal cleaning and degreasing.
The EPA’s proposal, made last year, could lead to “regulatory uncertainty and confusion” with existing exposure limits set by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the group said.
The Chemistry Council also said it is concerned that the Environmental Protection Agency has not fully assessed the impact of this rule on the domestic supply chain and could end up banning up to half of all end-uses regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act .
The agency says that although the Environmental Protection Agency banned one consumer from using methylene chloride in 2019, use of the chemical remains widespread and continues to pose significant and sometimes fatal hazards to workers. EPA’s final risk management rule requires companies to rapidly reduce the production, processing and distribution of methylene chloride for all consumer and most industrial and commercial uses, including home renovation.
Consumer use will be phased out within a year, and most industrial and commercial use will be banned for two years.
Liz Hitchcock, director of the safer chemicals program at the advocacy group Toxic-Free Future, praised the new rule but added: “As pleased as we are to see today’s rule banning all consumer and most commercial uses, we are concerned that the restrictions its scale will continue to expose too many workers to dangerous and fatal exposure to methylene chloride.”
Consumers should look for labels indicating a product does not contain methylene chloride, said a toxic substances watchdog group that has published a list of paint and varnish removers sold by major U.S. retailers that do not contain it.
Wendy Hartley, whose son Kevin died from methylene chloride poisoning after renovating a bathtub at work, called the new rule “a huge step that will protect vulnerable workers.”
Kevin Hartley, 21, from Tennessee, died in 2017. He was an organ donor, Wendy Hartley said, adding that because of the EPA’s actions, “Kevin’s death will continue to save lives.”