EPA Proposes Ban On This Cancer-Causing Chemical

Companies Have Known These Substances Cause Harm, Known They Are In The Water Supply, And We Are Just Now Proposing A Fix For The Problem.

Photo by Manki Kim on Unsplash

This news is a long time coming, decades in the making, in fact.

A proposal to ban all uses of trichloroethylene (TCE), an extremely toxic chemical known to cause serious health risks including cancer, neurotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity, was announced last week by the U.S. EPA.

This action, taken under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), would protect people from health risks by banning the manufacture, processing, and distribution of TCE for all uses.

Finally! I’m telling you this is a BIG DEAL.

More than 85,000 chemicals are listed in the TSCA Inventory, and more than 40,000 chemicals are actively in use on the market today in all kinds of products from shampoos and baby lotions to cell phones and Tupperware.

Unlike pharmaceuticals, industrial and commercial chemicals are rarely tested for safety before they enter the market. We have studied only about 200 of them for safety. That’s less than 1 percent.

The question that’s always on my mind is: how much of any toxic substance can a human body ingest and still be well?

Only six chemicals have been regulated under the TSCA: PCBs, asbestos, radon, lead, mercury, and formaldehyde. Another eight types of materials are considered exempt from TSCA’s regulatory authorities which are pesticides, tobacco, specified nuclear material, firearms and ammunition, food, food additives, drugs, and cosmetics.

The TSCA is a law with good intentions that has been virtually unenforceable, considered one of the least effective environmental laws we have, even with the passing of the bi-partisan-supported Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act amendment in 2016.

“Americans must demand that their environmental statutes, like the 2016 TSCA amendments, live up to their promise to protect public health,” said Trish Koman, research investigator in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, in a 2021 interview. “We want our children to have the opportunity to grow up without harmful exposures to industrial chemicals. We want our workplaces to be safe. We want modern risk assessment principles to be applied to robust data about chemical safety, and we want equal protection of these laws.”

This proposed ban on TCE is the first attempt to ban the use of any substance under the TSCA in more than 30 years.

Think that has anything to do with the fact that the chemical industry spent more than $65 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies in 2022? You know working to fight against stronger chemical restrictions.

The American Chemistry Council, an industry trade group representing more 190 American chemical companies, spent nearly $20 million on lobbying just last year. The most in its history.

What’s TCE, Anyway?

TCE is a colorless, nonflammable liquid solvent used in both industrial and household items. While this chemical’s name does not roll off the tongue, its widespread use in multiple industries means that most of us have been exposed to it.

Starting in the early 1900s, TCE was used to remove grease and dirt from metal parts and was a favorite in the aircraft industry from the 1950s to 1980s. It was used as an industrial solvent in the rubber industry—in paints, varnishes, adhesives, and paint strippers—and to produce agricultural chemicals such as fungicides and insecticides. It was also used in the dry-cleaning industry and in spray fixatives for arts and crafts.

“For far too long, TCE has left a toxic legacy in communities across America,” said Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, in a statement. “The proposal to end these unsafe, unrestricted uses of TCE will prevent future contamination to land and drinking water and deliver the chemical safety protections this nation deserves.”

Most people get exposed to TCE by consuming contaminated drinking water. The water is contaminated from some combination of industry discharge/spills and existing hazardous-waste sites. TCE breaks down slowly and can move through soil to find its way into drinking water sources. It was added to the list of substances known to cause cancer in the “14th Report on Carcinogens” released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in November 2016.

In a toxicological review of TCE, the EPA found that it is “carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure” based on evidence of a causal association between TCE exposure and kidney cancer. Both human and animal data show this chemical can affect the kidney, liver, immune system, male reproductive system, and a developing fetus, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and it’s also associated with increased rates of childhood leukemia.

The proposed risk management rule would take effect in one year for consumer products and most commercial uses and would implement stringent worker protections on the limited remaining commercial and industrial uses that would be phased down over a longer period.

A variety of safer alternatives are readily available for many uses.

A Toxic Legacy

For 45 years, the Whirlpool refrigeration production facility was based in Fort Smith, Arkansas. In 1967, they started using TCE as a degreaser and discontinued its use in 1981. Yet, in 2001 the company became aware that a plume of TCE had been found in the groundwater beyond its property and underneath homes in a nearby neighborhood.

TCE is known to have a latency period of 20 years or more. When I spoke with this community, people reported brain tumors, throat cancers, and nasopharyngeal cancer, and these rare cancers always raise a red flag for me. The Fort Smith plant closed in June 2012, but the clean up of the contamination continues.

A cluster of children with leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts, made famous by the book and movie A Civil Action, has been studied as well.

In 1965 Anne and Charles Anderson moved to Woburn. Their son Jimmy was diagnosed with ALL in January 1972 at 3.5 years old. It was through conversations with neighbors that Anne discovered that two other children down the block had also been diagnosed with leukemia.

Jimmy’s doctor had told her that the cause of ALL was unknown, but she suspected otherwise. Woburn had a long history as a center for industrial and chemical production. It was home to leather-tanning factories in the 1850s and chemical factories throughout the 20th century. For years, she had noticed that the tap water tasted bad and came out in strange colors, and she wondered if any of the chemicals from the town’s past had found their way into the water supply.

At first, her observations and questions about the water were met with skepticism by doctors, local officials, and even her neighbors. No one believed that a connection could be made between the water and the children’s health.

In 1979, the local newspaper reported that buried chemical containers had been discovered near the city’s wells, prompting them to be tested. Officials found dangerous levels of TCE and other chemical solvents.

The case led to a major lawsuit and garnered a fair amount of media attention. In 1986, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health published an analysis of the contaminated Woburn wells and their health effects, concluding that there was a link between the drinking water and the children’s leukemia. A 1994 analysis of about seventy-five towns also suggested a connection between TCE/PCE and leukemia, and many studies since then have found similar results.

Even with all this information available, the EPA did not classify TCE as a human carcinogen until September 28, 2011. The agency estimates that 250 million pounds of TCE are either produced or imported into the U.S. each year.

“We remember the children such as Jimmy Anderson who were killed by corporate pollution, and we dedicate ourselves to cleaning up the air, water, and soil in communities everywhere,” said Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey. “Since Anne and I met in 1980, we have been partners in the effort to clean up Woburn, to get justice for her son, and to save other families from seeing their children fall sick as a result of contamination.” 

TCE and its health effects also made the cover of Newsweek in 2014 because it was one of the top pollutants at Camp Lejeune, a North Carolina military base that is considered one of the worst toxic sites in the U.S. TCE was found in the drinking water of the 240-square-mile base as part of what was described as “a toxic cocktail of industrial solvents, dry-cleaning chemicals and gas.”

Take Action

EPA’s new proposed rule would prohibit most uses of TCE within one year, and within this one-year timeframe, most people who are likely be exposed to TCE would be protected, including workers in many sectors, all consumers, and many communities.

EPA will accept public comments on the proposed rule for TCE for 45 days following publication in the Federal Register via docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2020-0642 at www.regulations.gov. I urge everyone on this list to submit a comment. Check out these tips for making an effective comment.

Let the EPA know that it’s time for TCE to go!!