Toxic-Free Future is committed to promoting the use of safer products, chemicals and practices for a healthier future through cutting-edge research, advocacy, grassroots organizing and consumer engagement.
        Dichloromethane has been linked to health effects such as cancer, kidney and liver toxicity, and even death. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been aware of these dangers for decades, with 85 deaths between 1980 and 2018.
       Despite the existence of safer alternatives and evidence that methylene chloride can quickly kill people, the EPA has been extremely slow to respond to this hazardous chemical.
        More recently, the EPA proposed a rule aimed at eliminating most of the “production, processing, and distribution of dichloromethane for all consumer and most industrial and commercial purposes”, with restrictions placed on certain industries and federal agencies. A time-limited opt-out is available.
        We’ve waited long enough. To protect workers and the public, please advise the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finalize a dichloromethane regulation to ban most, if not all, use of this hazardous chemical as soon as possible.