EPA moves to regulate methylene chloride

The US Environmental Protection Agency is one step closer to regulating methylene chloride. The common solvent poses unreasonable risks to human health, the agency says in a finalized assessment.
Risks for cancer, liver disease, and neurotoxicity were noted by the EPA. Similar concerns were discovered by the agency in June 2020, however that evaluation was updated to take into account July 2021 regulatory revisions. These adjustments include not presuming that employees are using personal protective equipment and looking at the chemical's dangers as a whole rather than for each individual use.
Consumer goods like adhesives, sealants, degreasers, and cleaners contain methylene chloride. Additionally, refrigerants are created using it. The substance is one of the first 10 being assessed by the EPA in accordance with changes made to the Toxic Substances Control Act in 2016.
Within the upcoming year, the EPA is anticipated to propose a regulation to reduce the dangers associated with methylene chloride. The regulation can forbid or limit specific uses and mandate warning labels for goods containing methylene chloride.
Law firms anticipate that the chemical industry will dispute the upcoming rule on mitigating the risk from methylene chloride because it disagrees with the EPA's policy changes that went into effect in July 2021. The other chemicals in the first group of ten chemicals could be affected by that regulation. For such compounds, the EPA is employing the same strategy. In the upcoming months, the agency is anticipated to complete those examinations