{"id":9969,"date":"2021-01-14T14:20:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T19:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=9969"},"modified":"2021-01-14T14:35:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T19:35:46","slug":"edf-statement-trump-epas-withdrawal-of-proposed-bans-on-dangerous-uses-of-three-chemicals-is-shameful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2021\/01\/14\/edf-statement-trump-epas-withdrawal-of-proposed-bans-on-dangerous-uses-of-three-chemicals-is-shameful\/","title":{"rendered":"EDF statement: Trump EPA\u2019s withdrawal of proposed bans on dangerous uses of three chemicals is shameful"},"content":{"rendered":"

Decision epitomizes administration\u2019s disdain for public health protection<\/em><\/p>\n

(Washington, DC\u00a0\u2013 January 14, 2021) Tomorrow, the Trump EPA\u00a0will announce the formal withdrawal<\/a> of proposed bans on high-risk uses of the dangerous chemicals methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, and N-methylpyrrolidone. By taking this action, the Trump EPA seeks to prevent\u00a0the new administration from finalizing any of these bans without starting the process over.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears that blocking these bans and denying crucial protections to workers and consumers for four years was not enough for the Trump EPA. This shameful move that epitomizes the Trump EPA\u2019s concerted attacks on public health is a transparent attempt to further constrain the incoming administration. It is yet another stain on Mr. Wheeler\u2019s dismal\u00a0record,\u201d said Dr. Richard Denison<\/a><\/u>, Lead Senior Scientist, EDF Health. \u201cWe are counting down the days until the EPA\u2019s decisions, once again, reflect its mission to protect health and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Background<\/u><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During the debate on the overhaul to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 2016, there was broad agreement that EPA would need to take quick action to address particularly risky uses of dangerous chemicals. A broad array of stakeholders agreed this was the best way to build confidence in the new law early on.\u00a0The amendments to TSCA, therefore, specifically authorized EPA to adopt such restrictions.\u00a0In that spirit, in late 2016 and early 2017 under the Obama administration, EPA proposed to ban or restrict:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Trichloroethylene (TCE)<\/strong><\/a><\/u> in aerosol degreasing and spot cleaning in dry cleaning facilities and vapor degreasing. TCE is a known human carcinogen that leads to fetal heart defects.<\/li>\n
  2. Methylene chloride<\/a><\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>in paint strippers. It is acutely lethal and linked to liver and lung cancer. Its use in paint strippers has resulted in at least 83 deaths<\/a><\/u> in the last several decades.<\/li>\n
  3. N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP)<\/strong><\/a><\/u> in paint strippers. NMP is linked to fetal development problems including low birth weight and birth defects.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Enter the Trump administration.\u00a0In December 2017, it effectively shelved these bans<\/a><\/u> in its unified regulatory agenda. EPA then went a step further, stating it would start from scratch and reassess the high-risk uses as part of a separate process under TSCA, delaying any possible action for years.<\/p>\n

    For methylene chloride, in response to pressure from the families of people who had died from using paint strippers using the chemical, the agency finally issued a weakened ban<\/a><\/u> covering only consumer uses of paint strippers in March 2019 \u2013 leaving commercial uses unchecked. By excluding commercial uses from the ban, it leaves millions of workers wholly unprotected, despite the fact that they constitute the majority of reported deaths from these products.<\/p>\n

    The decision to formally withdraw these bans demonstrates, once again, the Trump EPA\u2019s utter disdain for protecting our health and its devotion to elevating narrow private interests over those of the public.\u00a0Sadly, it is also in keeping with the Trump administration\u2019s unrelenting efforts to hamper the new administration\u2019s efforts to take health-protective action.<\/p>\n

    ###<\/p>\n

    One of the world\u2019s leading international nonprofit organizations, <\/em>Environmental Defense Fund<\/em><\/strong> (<\/em>edf.org<\/em><\/a>) creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. With more than 2.5 million members\u00a0and\u00a0offices\u00a0in the United States, China, Mexico, Indonesia and the European Union, EDF\u2019s scientists, economists, attorneys and policy experts\u00a0are\u00a0working in 28\u00a0countries\u00a0to turn our solutions into action.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Decision epitomizes administration\u2019s disdain for public health protection (Washington, DC\u00a0\u2013 January 14, 2021) Tomorrow, the Trump EPA\u00a0will announce the formal withdrawal of proposed bans on high-risk uses of the dangerous chemicals methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, and N-methylpyrrolidone. By taking this action, the Trump EPA seeks to prevent\u00a0the new administration from finalizing any of these bans without …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":9294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,56093,56096,114108],"tags":[68,91777,91776,39179],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-9969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy","category-industry-influence","category-omboira","category-tsca","tag-epa","tag-methylene-chloride","tag-nmp","tag-trichloroethylene-tce"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9969"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}