EPA Moves to Tighten Regulation of Vinyl Chloride, 4 Other Plastics Chemicals

Vinyl chloride was among the toxic substances spilled by a train derailment at East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023.

The Environmental Protection Agency in Washington on Jan. 4, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed five chemical substances for risk evaluation and possible designation as high priority under the nation’s chemical safety law, including vinyl chloride, a toxic substance spilled in a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023.

Besides vinyl chloride, which has been linked to liver, brain, and lung cancer, the EPA chose to review acetaldehyde, acrylonitrile, benzenamine, and MBOCA from a longer list of chemicals previously identified for additional assessment. All are used to manufacture and process plastics, resins, and other chemicals, according to a July 24 statement.

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, the EPA has the power to implement stringent regulations on substances classed as high priority, including reporting, record-keeping, testing requirements, and other restrictions.

A new designation could help bolster health and environmental protections in communities, according to Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

“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.”

Process Continuing

If the EPA designates these substances as high priority, the next step will involve evaluations to determine whether they present an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment.

According to the EPA, if the risk evaluation process, which the agency is required to complete within about three years, finds that these chemicals present a risk, the government agency will “take action to eliminate these unreasonable risks.”

Following the EPA announcement, environmental advocacy organizations Beyond Plastics, Earthjustice, and Toxic-Free Future released a report with requests for the EPA to consider during its evaluation.

Report co-author Jenny Gitlitz said among the recommendations for the EPA is to actually visit communities affected by vinyl chloride to see any effects firsthand.

“We’ve recommended that as part of its regulatory process, EPA officials visit the communities that have been directly impacted by vinyl chloride,” she said.

“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. It’s time for action to protect public health.”

In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine spilled 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride. Adding to the disaster, officials began a controlled release and burn from overturned rail cars days later, creating a fireball and plume of black smoke filled with chemicals that could be seen for miles. Locals say the smoke dropped poisons onto their land and in their water and that they are still feeling the effects a year later.