The publication today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) of a peer-reviewed study by the University of California, San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE)—Fatalities from methylene chloride exposure in the United States, 1980-2018: A comprehensive case series and policy implications—adds to the strong case for EPA to fully ban the use of paint strippers containing methylene chloride from use in the United States.
In response, Safer Chemicals Healthy Families director Liz Hitchcock issued the following statement:
“The PRHE study confirms that workers have been the majority of the 85 identified deaths from acute exposure to methylene chloride. It is unacceptable that they continue to be exposed to these dangerous products. EPA should use its authority to protect workers.
The risk evaluation that EPA finalized ten months ago confirmed once more that paint strippers with methylene chloride pose unreasonable risk. EPA should act on this information and ban this use of the chemical immediately.”
For more, please read the below blog post from Annie Hoang, one of the authors of the study, cross-posted with permission from the University of California, San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment.
Growing up in urban poverty with working-class parents subjected to occupational exposures taught me that where you live and work affects your health. I was raised with the conviction that one should…
