EPA Implements Significant Restrictions on TCE and PCE Usage
In a pivotal move to enhance chemical safety, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has enacted stringent regulations on trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), substances long associated with carcinogenic risks. These chemicals, prevalent in a variety of consumer and industrial applications, are now facing critical limitations to reduce public and environmental exposure.
The recently introduced policies will eliminate TCE from all consumer products, including items like spray coatings for arts and crafts, within a year. Meanwhile, most uses of PCE will also be phased out. However, certain industrial applications, such as the production of refrigerants and electric vehicle batteries, will continue under stricter safety protocols known as the Workplace Chemical Protection Program.
Jeff Gearhart, research director at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, emphasized the prolonged struggle to achieve these safety milestones: “It’s taken 50 years to get to this point of banning many of the uses of them and establishing worker safety standards for any of the remaining uses.” He advocates for a preventive approach to chemical safety.
Workplaces will have a 30-month window to conform to these new safety standards, aiming to prevent accidental chemical exposure among workers. EPA official Michal Freedhoff highlighted the necessity of the ban due to environmental contamination concerns, particularly regarding TCE’s impact on air and water quality.
“We had spent decades cleaning the TCE out of the air, cleaning the TCE out of the water, cleaning up these sites that were contaminated with TCE,” Freedhoff explained. “But EPA didn’t have the authority to write rules like the rule we finalized [Monday] that regulated the way TCE was made and used in the first place.”
Consumers currently using products such as furniture cleaners and adhesives containing TCE or PCE will find numerous safer alternatives. Freedhoff reassured that the market is ready with effective substitutes, stating, “Ultimately, consumers will be much safer and already have dozens of commercially available alternatives that work just as well but use safer chemicals.”
Additionally, the EPA is preparing to release resources to assist small businesses during the transition and will conduct a public webinar on January 15, 2025, to discuss the new regulations in detail.
Freedhoff urges a shift in regulatory focus towards proactive chemical assessment and management: “We shouldn’t be waiting to find out what goes wrong with the way chemicals are made and used and only handle the problem after it’s already been made.” This sentiment is echoed by Gearhart, who underscores the importance of evaluating new chemicals before market entry, suggesting that harmful substances should either be restricted or barred entirely.
“When we do better policy, we can reduce harm to people and the environment,” Gearhart concluded, emphasizing the value of preventive measures with the adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
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