Conclusions from the TSCA Assessment of Dichloromethane
 |
According to the EPA, the use of products containing DCM for paint stripping poses some of the highest exposure risks compared to all uses of DCM. The chemical is a volatile organic compound (VOC) and is also considered to have “likely carcinogenic properties.” In 2012, 261.5 million pounds of DCM were produced and imported into the United States, and the industry estimated demand in 2010 was 181 million pounds.
EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (EPA/OPPT) estimates that more than 230,000 workers nationwide are directly exposed to DCM paint strippers, but this number does not include workers called “occupational bystanders” who are indirectly exposed. The populations targeted in the assessment are workers of both sexes, including pregnant females, and people 16 years of age or older, including both direct users and occupational bystanders.
Join us for our Chemical Safety and Improvements webinar November 6 to discover cost-effective ways to align your programs with present and future report recommendations. Learn more.
Like the trichloroethylene (TCE) assessment, the DCM assessment included only inhalation exposures, not skin exposures, and does not include environmental impacts. Although the assessment assumes a number of uncertainties inherent in available data and certain potential health concerns, the assessment provided a wealth of risk-related information.
Regarding cancer risks from chronic DCM exposure:
- There are cancer risk concerns for workers exposed to DCM that are employed at various industries handling DCM-containing paint strippers,
- Many of the occupational scenarios exceed at least one of the target lifetime cancer risks of 10-4, 10-5, and 10-6 (i.e., one chance in 10,000, 100,000, or 1 million, respectively), and
- Workers handling DCM-based paint strippers with no respiratory protection for an extended period of time have the greatest cancer risk.
Non-cancer risks from chronic DCM exposures include:
- Liver effects for most workers, including bystanders, using DCM-based paint strippers in relevant industries, with the exception of the art renovation and conservation industry, and
- Non-cancer risks for most workers handling DCM-based paint strippers with or without respiratory protection for various exposure scenarios, with the greatest risk occurring in workers with long-term use of the product (i.e., 250 days/year for 40 years) without respiratory protection.
Chemical Safety and Improvements: Compliance Strategies for Getting PSM, RMP & CFATS Regulations Right
Focused on chemical facility safety and security, this webinar aims to show EHS managers responsible for risk management how to align key programs with federal recommendations made in a report recently released under the direction of an August 2013 Executive Order (EO). Register now.
Non-cancer risks from acute DCM exposures include:
- Neurological effects for most workers using DCM-based paint strippers that are apparent with or without the use of respiratory protection,
- Concerns for incapacitating effects in workers handling DCM-containing paint strippers on an acute/short-term basis with no respiratory protection and for workers wearing different types of respirators, such as with assigned protection factor (APF) 10 or 25, while performing paint stripping in industries with high DCM exposure,
- Neurological effects for consumers of DCM-based paint strippers at residential settings including bystanders staying in the residence when paint strippers are being applied,
- Concerns for discomfort/non-disabling and incapacitating effects for consumers exposed to DCM while applying the product or staying in the residence after completion of the stripping task, including bystanders, when exposure conditions are at the highest in the rest of the house following completion of paint stripping, and
- Unsafe exposure conditions for residential users, but not bystanders, of the product when it is applied in bathrooms. DCM concentrations may reach levels associated with non-disabling and incapacitating effects for the user applying the product. User relocation to the rest of the house after completing the paint stripping task may also produce non-disabling and incapacitating effects as DCM’s internal dose builds up in the body over time.
The assessment also revealed that noncancer risks are not found when workers reduce their exposure to DCM-based strippers by taking all three of the following actions:
- Wearing respiratory protection (i.e., respirator with at least an assigned protection factor of 50),
- Limiting exposure to central tendency exposure conditions (i.e., 125 days/year for 20 years), and
- Working in facilities with low-end DCM air concentrations.
The EPA is currently considering a range of actions, both voluntary and regulatory, to mitigate risks from DCM. These include safer/greener chemicals and processes, promotion of best practices, and the phase-out of uses.