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EPA Plans Limits on a Deadly Chemical in Paint Strippers EPA Plans Limits on a Deadly Chemical in Paint Strippers
(about 1 hour later)
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WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Friday new limits on a lethal chemical found in paint stripping products that has been linked to more than 50 deaths since the 1980s.WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Friday new limits on a lethal chemical found in paint stripping products that has been linked to more than 50 deaths since the 1980s.
Chemical safety activists called the plan a significant scaling-back of the full ban that the Obama administration had proposed. In 2017 the Obama administration concluded the chemical represented an “unreasonable risk” and moved to ban it from commercial as well as consumer use. Chemical safety activists called the plan a significant scaling-back of the ban that the Obama administration had proposed. In 2017 the Obama administration concluded the chemical, methylene chloride, represented an “unreasonable risk” and moved to ban it from commercial as well as consumer use.
The E.P.A. rule prohibits the consumer use of products containing methylene chloride, but does not ban it for commercial use. It separately proposes a training and certification program for workers who use the chemical commercially. Andrew Wheeler, the E.P.A. administrator, on Friday signed a rule that prohibits the manufacture and use of consumer products containing methylene chloride, but did not ban it for commercial use. The agency is also considering a proposal for a certification and training program for workers who use the chemical commercially.
The families of three men who died from exposure after working with paint strippers containing methylene chloride met in early 2018 with Scott Pruitt, then the administrator of the E.P.A. Among them was Brian Wynne, the brother of Drew Wynne, who died after stripping paint from the floor of his coffee company in Charleston, S.C. “Families have lost loved ones in tragic and heartbreaking circumstances,” said Alexandra Dunn, the E.P.A. assistant administrator for chemical safety. “We answered the call for many affected families to ensure that no other family experience the death of someone close to them from this chemical.”
Shortly after that meeting, the agency vowed to take action. Stores will have 180 days to stop selling products containing methylene chloride. After that, violators will face fines or possible imprisonment.
Lindsay McCormick, who manages the chemicals and health program at the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental group, said that, while the chemical is a threat to people who use paint thinners in their homes, the majority of deaths associated with methylene chloride have been work-related. Ms. Dunn said the E.P.A. expected retailers to comply “much more quickly.” So far, at least 13 retailers have announced that they have removed or will remove from their shelves paint stripping products that contain the chemical.
She called the E.P.A. decision “a step in the right direction,” while adding, “I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that this is only addressing a portion of the population, and we really need to protect all Americans.” Relatives of three men who died from exposure after working with paint strippers containing methylene chloride met in early 2018 with Scott Pruitt, then the administrator of the E.P.A. Among them was Brian Wynne, the brother of Drew Wynne, who died in 2017 after stripping paint from the floor of his coffee company in Charleston, S.C.
A spokeswoman for the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, an industry group, declined to comment until the proposed rule was formally published. Another was Wendy Hartley of Nashville, Tenn., whose son Kevin died at age 21 after refinishing a bathtub for the family’s business. Ms. Hartley said on Friday that she had declined to meet with E.P.A. officials ahead of the agency’s announcement because the ruling does not ban the chemical outright.
The E.P.A. move comes after two groups representing workers and environmental groups sued the E.P.A., accusing it of unreasonably delaying the ban. In May, Lowe’s, the home improvement retailer, announced that it would voluntarily remove from its shelves paint stripping products that contained the chemical. “I am deeply disappointed that the E.P.A. has watered down the ban on methylene chloride as it was originally proposed,” she said in a text message. “Workers like my son Kevin who use MC are left unprotected.”
Lindsay McCormick, project manager for chemicals and health at the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental group, said while the chemical is a threat to people who use paint strippers in their homes, the majority of deaths associated with methylene chloride have been work-related. She called the E.P.A. decision “a step in the right direction” but added, “I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that this is only addressing a portion of the population, and we really need to protect all Americans.”
E.P.A. officials did not say why the agency had opted against a ban, but suggested that one could still be imposed based on the comments the agency receives about its plan to create a certification program.
Faye Graul, executive director for the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, an industry group, said in a statement she was disappointed with the ban on consumer uses of the substance and said the organization had worked with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to improve labeling. “We hope that alternative products offered to consumers, most of which are flammable, do not result in greater fire risk,” she said.
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