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EPA finalizes ban of trichloroethylene and partial ban of perchloroethylene

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Photo: Skyhobo/Getty Images

UPDATE: In compliance with a presidential memorandum, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Jan. 28 that it has delayed until March 21 the effective date of the trichloroethylene final rule.

Washington — The Environmental Protection Agency will ban the use of the toxic chemical trichloroethylene and prohibit most uses of the carcinogenic chemical substance perchloroethylene, under separate final rules announced in December.

TCE is used in dishwashing products and as a solvent in brake and parts cleaning, recycling, and disposal. In 2014, EPA determined that the substance may cause cancer, developmental and neurological effects, and toxicity to the liver.

Perchloroethylene, also known as tetrachloroethylene or PCE, has been linked to adverse health effects involving the nervous system, kidneys and liver. A 2017 study published in the journal BMJ Open shows that occupational exposure to PCE may increase women’s risk of head and neck cancer.

EPA previously issued final revised risk determinations stating the substances pose “unreasonable” risk to workers in certain operations.

The agency will prohibit the manufacture, processing and distribution of TCE for consumer products and commercial uses, with much of the ban enacted within one year.

For PCE, which is found in multiple everyday products, EPA will phase out commercial use of the substance within two years and, within 10 years, prohibit its use in dry cleaning. The agency also will enact strict workplace controls for continuing uses that “generally occur in highly sophisticated workplaces that may be important to national security, aviation and other critical infrastructure, as well as uses that complement the agency’s efforts to combat the climate crisis.”

In a press release, Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator of the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said: “It’s simply unacceptable to continue to allow cancer-causing chemicals to be used for things like glue, dry cleaning or stain removers when safer alternatives exist. These rules are grounded in the best-available science that demonstrates the harmful impacts of PCE and TCE.”

In a Dec. 9 post to X, David Michaels, who led OSHA from 2009 to 2017, writes that the ban “overcomes a weakness of OSHA and will save many workers’ lives.”

In a press release from Earthjustice, Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, an attorney for the environmental watchdog group, applauds the regulation of TCE while questioning the partial ban of PCE.

“The last thing we want is for industry to replace prohibited uses of TCE with PCE, swapping one toxic threat for another,” he said. “But the narrower scope of the PCE ban opens the door to that very substitution, leaving workers and impacted communities at risk.”

The TCE final rule is set to go into effect Jan. 16 and the PCE final rule is set to go into effect Jan. 17.

EPA has scheduled a webinar on its PCE rule for 12:30 p.m. Eastern on Jan. 25. Anyone interested must register by 11:30 a.m. Eastern on Jan. 15.

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