Two carcinogenic chemicals used in cleaning products and other common household goods have been banned in the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024.
The chemicals – trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) – can cause multiple kinds of cancers and damage to the kidney, liver and immune and nervous systems at high exposure levels.
The EPA’s bans against the substances have been a long time coming, but industry groups have fought hard against legislation.
“It’s simply unacceptable to continue to allow cancer-causing chemicals to be used for things like glue, dry cleaning or stain removers when safer alternatives exist,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “These rules are grounded in the best-available science that demonstrates the harmful impacts of PCE and TCE. EPA continues to deliver on actions that protect people, including workers and children, under the nation’s premier bipartisan chemical safety law.”
PCE and TCE are both nonflammable chlorinated solvents that are volatile organic compounds. PCE can biodegrade into TCE, and PCE may contain trace amounts of TCE as an impurity or a contaminant. The chemicals can often serve as alternatives for each other. For several uses of TCE that will be totally prohibited, there is an analogous use of PCE that can continue safely in perpetuity under workplace controls.
Some examples of uses that will be prohibited under the TCE rule but will continue under the PCE rule include industrial and commercial use as an energised electrical cleaner, in laboratory use for asphalt testing and recovery, use to make refrigerants and other chemicals, and for vapor degreasing.
“Over 40 years ago, a mother named Anne Anderson from Woburn, Massachusetts, approached me and started a crusade to keep any more children like Jimmy Anderson, her son, from dying from cancer caused by toxic chemicals. Anne’s work directly led to this announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency that I am overjoyed to celebrate today alongside her and every community that stands to benefit – a finalised ban on trichloroethylene and most uses of perchloroethylene, two chemicals that cause cancer, affect reproductive systems, are neurotoxic, and compromise immune systems,” said Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).
“Despite their dangers, these chemicals could still be found in industries like dry cleaning, automotive repair and manufacturing. With no doubt that these chemicals are deadly, there is no doubt that this final rule will save lives – especially our children’s lives – around the country,” added Markey.
“The Camp Lejeune contaminated drinking water issue has dragged on over the better part of forty years ever since TCE, PCE and other organic solvents were first documented in the base’s drinking water supply in October 1980,” said Jerry M. Ensminger, Retired U.S. Marine Corps Master Sergeant. “My daughter, Janey, was conceived aboard Camp Lejeune during the drinking water contamination and died of leukemia in 1985, at the age of nine. I first began my fight for justice in 1997, and was later joined by Mike Partain in 2007, who was also conceived aboard the base and diagnosed with male breast cancer at the age of 39. Mike and I welcome this ban on TCE by the EPA and this is proof that our fight for justice at Camp Lejeune was not in vain.”
TCE is an extremely toxic chemical known to cause liver cancer, kidney cancer, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. TCE also causes damage to the central nervous system, liver, kidneys, immune system, reproductive organs, and fetal heart defects. These risks are present even at very small concentrations. Under today’s rule, all uses of TCE will be banned over time (with the vast majority of identified risks eliminated within one year), and safer alternatives are readily available for the majority of uses.
PCE is known to cause liver, kidney, brain and testicular cancer, as well as damage to the kidney, liver and immune system, neurotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity. Today’s final rule will better protect people from these risks by banning manufacture, processing and distribution in commerce of PCE for all consumer uses and many commercial uses, while allowing some workplace uses to continue only where robust workplace controls can be implemented.
