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Chemical Regulation

Methylene chloride–related deaths undercounted by US EPA, study says

by Britt E. Erickson
April 25, 2021 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 99, Issue 15

Worker wearing gloves scraping paint treated with chemical paint remover.
Credit: Shutterstock
Worker fatalities associated with the use of methylene chloride in paint strippers have risen since 2000, according to a new study.

The US Environmental Protection Agency underestimated by nearly 40% the number of deaths linked to methylene chloride exposure from 1980 to 2018, according to a recent analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine (DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.1063). The study identified 85 deaths involving methylene chloride over that period, whereas the EPA reports 53. Of the 85 deaths identified in the study, 60 involved methylene chloride–based paint strippers. Of the 60 deaths involving paint strippers, 52, or 87%, occurred at work. The study also finds that worker fatalities associated with methylene chloride paint and bathtub stripping have increased since 2000. The EPA banned consumer use of such products in 2019, but it still allows workers to use them. The study’s authors are urging the EPA to ban commercial uses. “Safer alternatives to methylene chloride are available and in widespread use,” the study’s corresponding author, Veena Singla, a senior scientist at the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, says in a statement. The EPA acknowledged the risks of methylene chloride to workers in a recent assessment and is now working to mitigate those risks.

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