EPA bans most uses of methylene chloride

The US Environmental Protection Agency has banned most uses of methylene chloride, a solvent that has been linked to a number of adverse health effects and some deaths.

Since 1980, at least 88 people have died from acute exposure to methylene chloride, the agency says. Longer-term exposure can also lead to liver damage and the development of at least six different types of cancers, it adds.

Methylene chloride is the second compound, after asbestos, to be banned under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act. The ban, which follows a risk assessment and an April 2023 proposal, will phase out all consumer uses within a year and most industrial and commercial uses within the next 2 years.

Uses of methylene chloride that are exempt from the ban include as a raw material for producing electric-vehicle batteries and climate-friendly refrigerant chemicals. And methylene chloride can continue to be used as a laboratory chemical.

“For each use of the chemical that will continue, EPA has developed a first-of-its-kind worker protection program, so that the workers who are helping make and use the chemical . . . are protected, as they deserve to be,” Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said during a press briefing. Workplaces that are exempt from the ban will have 18 months to put worker protections in place.

Pharmaceutical use isn't covered by TSCA. Here's the finalized rule. I have strong suspicions that the workplace safety requirements are pretty strict, but I'm going to withhold judgment until I read the whole thing, which I haven't.