EPA to review vinyl chloride, other chemicals for health concerns

The Environmental Protection Agency July 24 took a step forward in its plan for detailed health reviews of vinyl chloride and four other chemicals used to make rubber and plastics, framing it as part of government efforts to reduce cancer risks.

The decision is not entirely unexpected, after the agency in December put the chemicals on an initial list for study and possible limits.

But in saying that it wanted to move ahead, a top EPA official noted that all five chemicals are used to make plastics and have been linked to cancer, suggesting a continued EPA focus on health risks from exposure to some building blocks of plastics.

"Studying the safety of these harmful chemicals—all five of which have been linked to cancer and are used to make plastic—would help lead to critical public health and environmental protections in communities across the country and would ensure that the public has access to more data on these chemicals sooner," said Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, in a news release.

Besides vinyl chloride monomer, the agency said it was moving ahead with the four other chemicals on the December list: acetaldehyde, acrylonitrile, benzenamine, and a compound used in polyurethane manufacturing, 4,4'-methylene bis(2-chloroaniline).

The July 24 decision is a bit bureaucratic. It means EPA will take formal comments over the next 90 days and make a final decision, likely later this year, on whether to start detailed health risk evaluations that could take up to three and a half years to finish.

EPA said the health risk evaluations would support President Joe Biden's "Cancer Moonshot" to protect public health, as well as reduce exposure to toxic chemicals and address environmental justice and plastic pollution concerns.

"The Biden-Harris Administration continues to make significant progress in protecting workers and communities from exposure to harmful chemicals as we implement the 2016 (Toxic Substances Control Act) amendments that strengthened EPA's authority on chemical safety," Freedhoff said.

In response to EPA's announcement, the Vinyl Institute echoed previous statements that it was confident that EPA would find that the production and use of vinyl chloride are safe and said it would continue to work with the EPA.

"This is a multi-year process and we will continue to answer any questions and act as a conduit of information from the vinyl value chain to the EPA for a scientific and thorough review of VC," said VI President and CEO Ned Monro. "Our members adhere to some of the most stringent safety and environmental regulations in the chemical industry, and this process will demonstrate the production and use of vinyl chloride are safe."

Any potential regulatory action is years away.

The group beyond Beyond Plastics, which is led by a former EPA regional administrator and has been pushing the agency to restrict VCM, said regulations to manage risks from vinyl chloride could be adopted in December 2029, two years after the health risk evaluation is completed.

Those actions for managing risks could range from banning vinyl chloride to restrictions on its manufacturing, processing, distribution, use or disposal, the group said in a joint statement with Earthjustice and Toxic-Free Future.

"This designation requires EPA to thoroughly evaluate the risks associated with vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, and implement stringent regulations to mitigate its dangers," said Eve Gartner, Earthjustice director of crosscutting toxic strategies.

The groups said EPA has previously taken action against other chemicals reviewed under the detailed TSCA process the five chemicals could face.

The agency banned many uses of asbestos and methylene chloride, and has proposed a total ban on trichloroethylene and a ban on some uses of perchloroethylene, Beyond Plastics said.

The environmental groups also released a report outlining concerns, like air emissions of VCM averaging 500,000 pounds a year since 2010. And they said EPA should test residential drinking water at the tap to determine if vinyl chloride leaks from PVC pipes.

"We've recommended that as part of its regulatory process, EPA officials visit the communities that have been directly impacted by vinyl chloride," said Jenny Gitlitz, director of solutions to plastic pollution at Beyond Plastics, and a co-author of the report. "They need to talk to residents whose health has been harmed by contaminated water and air pollution. They must also examine how vinyl chloride can leach from PVC pipes into drinking water."

No final decisions will be made quickly, said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former EPA regional administrator in the Obama administration.

"This is going to be a long and winding road," she said.

The VI's Monroe said the industry remains committed to working with EPA.

"The Vinyl Institute and our members will continue to collaborate with EPA as we have to date to ensure they have all the necessary information during this process," he said.

EPA's announcement added that the agency is getting more efficient at the detailed health review process under TSCA, such as doing more preliminary screening. It will be able to make more information available to the public earlier on the studies and information it's used in the screening process.

"EPA now has a head start on risk evaluations," the agency said. "At this proposed designation stage, EPA has a much fuller understanding of how these chemicals behave in the environment and their potential hazards and exposures than it had at this point in the process in the previous prioritization cycle conducted in 2019."

The EPA statement included details on health risk from each chemical, and it noted the vinyl chloride burn off after the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and chemical spill in February 2023.