[CPEO-BIF] "At Industry's Behest, EPA Caves on Banning 'A Civil Action' Carcinogen, Lays Ground to Downplay ..."

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

At Industry's Behest, EPA Caves on Banning 'A Civil Action' Carcinogen, Lays Ground to Downplay ...

By Melanie Benesh
Environmental Working Group 
JUNE 6, 2018

After intense lobbying by the chemical industry, last week the Environmental Protection Agency signaled plans to delay or scrap proposed bans on some uses of the drinking water contaminant made notorious by the book and film “A Civil Action.”  

TCE also poisoned the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, the sprawling Marine Corps base in North Carolina, for decades, causing various kinds of cancer and Parkinson’s disease in service members and their families. Last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs began paying an estimated $2.2 billion in disability claims to veterans harmed by the contamination.

According to EWG’s Tap Water Database, TCE contaminates drinking water for 14 million Americans in 37 states. People whose water contains TCE can be exposed not just by drinking it, but also by inhaling it while bathing, washing dishes and doing other household activities.

In December 2016, the EPA proposed banning uses of TCE as an aerosol degreaser and a spot cleaner. It was the first ban proposed in more than 25 years under the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA, the nation’s primary chemical law. A month later, the EPA also proposed banning TCE in vapor degreasing.


…

For the entire blog, see
https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/06/industry-s-behest-epa-caves-banning-civil-action-carcinogen-lays-ground#.WytSuy3MxPM



--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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