EPA rejected calls from environmental health advocates to strengthen restrictions on a toxic chemical championed by industry as a “critical” alternative to its ozone-depleting counterparts.
The agency released its final rule regulating carbon tetrachloride, a compound linked to cancer and liver toxicity used as a feedstock to make refrigerants, aerosol propellants and foam-blowing agents.
The final rule bans the chemical in all uses that have already been phased out and adds stricter workplace safety protections for all other scenarios. Much like the agency’s proposal released in July 2023, the final rule bans all uses “where information indicates use of CTC has ceased,” according to a prepublication version.
But the rule adds a caveat: the chemical can continue to be used to make vinyl chloride, a highly carcinogenic chemical used to make PVC pipes, a condition of use regulators previously thought had been phased out.
