Newly listed carcinogens are all chemicals deeply embedded in US commerce

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. 

[CORRECTION 10/4/14:  The company identified at the bottom of the table in this post as importing pentachlorophenol has been corrected to be KMG CHEMICALS; the original post had erroneously identified the company as ALBEMARLE.]

Yesterday the National Toxicology Program (NTP) released its 13^th Report on Carcinogens.  This periodic, Congressionally mandated report lists substances classified after a rigorous scientific review as either “known” or “reasonably anticipated” to be human carcinogens.

The 13^th report includes 4 new listings:

• ortho-Toluidine, used to make rubber chemicals, pesticides, and dyes, was upgraded from its prior listing as “reasonably anticipated” to now be listed as a known human carcinogen, based on studies in humans showing it causes urinary bladder cancer.
• Three chemicals are listed for the first time, each as reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens:
  • 1-bromopropane, used as a cleaning solvent and spray adhesive, inhalation of which has been shown in animal studies to produces tumors in the skin, lungs, and large intestine;
  • cumene, used to make phenol and acetone, inhalation of which has been shown in animal studies to produces tumors in the lungs and liver; and
  • pentachlorophenol, a wood preservative mixture, exposure to which increases risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in studies in humans and causes tumors in the liver and other organs in mice.

EDF used the latest available data on the production and import of industrial chemicals collected by EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to ascertain the extent to which these four chemicals are manufactured and used in the U.S.  These data demonstrate that the four substances are all present in U.S. commerce in very large amounts, considered by EPA to be high production volume (HPV) chemicals because their manufacture exceeds one million pounds annually.  In fact, all four chemicals are present in amounts far higher than that level, as shown below. 

We also used EPA data to identify the specific companies that make or import each chemical, summarized just below and listed in the table further below.  Two of these chemicals are included in our Toxics Across America report and interactive map; click on the hyperlinked chemical names below to see the specific companies and sites reporting those two chemicals:

• ortho-toluidine:  60 million pounds annually
  • reported imported by 4 companies
• 1-bromopropane:   15 million pounds annually
  • reported produced by 1 company, imported by 3 companies, with 1 company claiming its identity and activity as confidential business information (CBI)
• cumene:  37 billion pounds annually
  • reported produced by 9 companies, imported by 3 companies, with 2 companies claiming their activity as CBI
• pentachlorophenol:  9 million pounds annually
  • reported imported by 1 company

As shown in the table below, nearly all of the reporting companies claimed the amount of each chemical they produce or import to be CBI.

Nonetheless, the data show just how deeply embedded these known and suspected carcinogens are in U.S. commerce.