In early December 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized their latest risk management rules for the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE) under the Toxic Substances Control Act. After decades of insufficient worker protections and delays, this is a major milestone for chemical safety³.
TCE is used as an industrial solvent, primarily to remove grease from metal parts during the manufacturing process. It also is used in consumer products such as paint removers, adhesives, and stain removers². TCE is an extremely toxic chemical known to cause liver and kidney cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It can also cause damage to the central nervous system, liver, kidneys, immune system, reproductive organs, and fetal heart defects. TCE poses these risks, in even very small concentrations.
Under this rule, TCE will be banned for all uses over time, most within a year, and safer alternatives to TCE are already available for most uses³. Industries that will continue using TCE longer than one year have been recognized to be able to easily adopt EPA’s new stringent worker protections, such as the use of TCE to clean parts used in aircraft and medical devices, to manufacture battery separators, to manufacture refrigerants, as well as in transportation, security, and defense systems³.
PCE is a commonly used solvent in dry cleaning operations to help dissolve greases, oils, and waxes without damaging the fabric. It is also used in the manufacturing of products such as water repellants, paint removers, printing inks, glues, sealants, polishes, and lubricants¹. PCE is known to cause liver, kidney, brain, and testicular cancer. It can also cause damage to the kidney, liver, and immune system, neurotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity³.
The new risk management rules ban all consumer and many commercial uses for PCE, which will better protect people from the risks of PCE. There will be some industries that are still allowed some workplace uses, such as in energized electrical cleaners, in laboratory use for asphalt testing and recovery, making refrigerants and other chemicals, and for vapor degreasing, but all under very robust workplace controls³.
Furthermore, to be able to clean up sites of TCE contamination, such as EPA Superfund sites, EPA has allowed for essential laboratory use and proper disposal of TCE wastewater to continue for the next 50 years, as long as worker protections are in place, including an inhalation exposure limit set in this risk management rule³. TCE and PCE are both found in EPA drinking water and wastewater Purge and Trap (P&T) methods, such as the 524 drinking water series, 624, and 8260. Being able to analyze these VOCs by P&T in drinking water and wastewater will be critical to measure the success of the EPA ban.
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Resources
- Chemical Safety Facts. (2022, October 14). “Perchloroethylene” Chemical Safety Facts. Trichloroethylene (TCE) - Chemical Safety Facts
- Chemical Safety Facts. (2022, October 14). “Trichloroethylene (TCE)” Chemical Safety Facts. Trichloroethylene (TCE) - Chemical Safety Facts
- United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, December 9). “Biden-Harris Administration Announces Latest Actions under Nation’s Chemical Safety Law to Protect People from Cancer-Causing Chemicals Trichloroethylene and Perchloroethylene” United States Environmental Protection Agency. Biden-Harris Administration Announces Latest Actions under Nation’s Chemical Safety Law to Protect People from Cancer-Causing Chemicals Trichloroethylene and Perchloroethylene | US EPA