"A solvent widely used in industrial settings and found in automotive and other consumer products poses too great a risk of harming both workers and consumers, the EPA said Oct. 29.
The vast majority of ways in which the solvent, methylene chloride, is used pose an unreasonable risk of injuring people’s health, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded in a draft analysis.
The people facing undue risk include millions of auto mechanics, building renovators, construction workers, industrial laborers, and an undetermined number of consumers.
The agency’s preliminary conclusions about methylene chloride, if eventually made final, would require the agency to regulate that solvent more fully than it did in a March regulation (RIN: 2070-AK07), which prohibited companies from making, importing, processing, and distributing methylene chloride in paint and coating strippers used by consumers. That rule goes into effect Nov. 22."
Pat Rizzuto reports for Bloomberg Environment October 29, 2019.
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