Toxic-Free Future aims to create a healthier future by promoting the use of safer products, chemicals and practices through cutting-edge research, advocacy, mass organization and consumer engagement.
In April 2023, the EPA proposed a ban on most uses of methylene chloride. Toxic Free Future welcomed the proposal, urging the EPA to finalize the rule and extend its protection to all workers as soon as possible. more.
Dichloromethane (also known as dichloromethane or DCM) is an organohalogen solvent used in paint or coating removers and other products such as degreasers and stain removers. When methylene chloride fumes build up, this chemical can cause choking and heart attacks. This has happened to dozens of people who have used paint and coating removers containing this chemical, including Kevin Hartley and Joshua Atkins. No family has lost a loved one to this chemical.
In 2017, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a ban on the use of dichloromethane for paint strippers (for both consumer and commercial use). Later that year, methylene chloride was one of the first ten “existing” chemicals that the EPA began conducting a risk assessment to study all uses of the chemical.
The Toxic-Free Future campaign convinced more than a dozen retailers, including Lowe’s, The Home Depot and Walmart, to voluntarily stop selling paint removers containing the chemical. After meeting with the families of people who died from acute exposure to the chemical, the EPA ultimately banned its use in consumer products in 2019, but allowed continued use in the workplace, where it could be the same as when used at home. In fact, of the 85 deaths reported between 1985 and 2018 from exposure, workplace exposure was responsible for 75% of deaths.
In 2020 and 2022, the EPA released risk assessments that showed that the vast majority of methylene chloride uses represent “an unreasonable risk of harm to health or the environment.” In 2023, the EPA is proposing to ban all consumer and most industrial and commercial uses of the chemical, with workplace protection requirements requiring time-limited critical-use exemptions and notable exemptions from certain federal agencies.