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United States

EPA To Push Ban of Toxic Chemical Found in Drinking Water (theguardian.com) 29

Posted by msmash from the about-time dept.
The Biden administration is proposing a ban on TCE, a highly toxic chemical commonly used in stain removers, adhesives and degreasers, and which had been found to be contaminating drinking water on a wide scale across the US. From a report: The move comes after years of mounting scientific evidence showing TCE is "extremely toxic" at low levels of exposure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrote in a statement. "The science is loud and clear on TCE. It is a dangerous toxic chemical and proposing to ban it will protect families, workers and communities," said the EPA deputy administrator, Janet McCabe.

TCE, or trichloroethylene, is a volatile organic compound that humans are frequently exposed to in a variety of settings, though those who use products with the chemical in an occupational setting are most at risk. It's also commonly used in carpet cleaning treatments, hoof polishes, brake cleaners, pepper spray and lubricants. Among other health issues, the chemical is thought to be a carcinogen and a liver toxin, harm male reproduction, cause neurological damage, damage kidneys and cause Parkinson's disease.
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EPA To Push Ban of Toxic Chemical Found in Drinking Water More

EPA To Push Ban of Toxic Chemical Found in Drinking Water

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  • Don't confuse TCE with TCE (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06, 2023 @11:12AM (#63984634)

    TCE is already banned. This new ban is on TCE.

    The confusion is that they are calling two different things TCE

    1) Tetrachloroethane - already banned
    2) Tetrachloroethylene - new ban

    • EPA calls tetrachloroethylene perchloroethylene or PCE, which only has a partial ban being phased on. Trichloroethylene is getting the near complete ban, but just like in Europe a lot of industry will switch to PCE (called PER in the EU).

      TCE is a known carcinogen and PCE only a likely one, but that seems more a question of time than a fundamental difference to me.

      • Re:Don't confuse TCE with TCE (Score:4, Informative)

        by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Monday November 06, 2023 @12:09PM (#63984822)
        So the "tri" is deadly but the "tetra" is somewhat less?

        It looks like the tetra is what's in chlorinated brake cleaner.

        https://www.envirofluid.com/ar... [envirofluid.com]

        "Tetrachloroethylene is also highly toxic. It is a Group 2A carcinogen, which means that it is probably carcinogenic to humans and also a central nervous system depressant which can enter the body through respiratory or dermal exposure. It is also probably linked to Parkinsonâ(TM)s Disease."

        Shit, for some reason I thought that just meant "chlorine" like a swimming pool and couldn't be that bad.

        • When I took organic chemistry (back in the dark ages) the lab notes were written to use benzene, but were were told to use toluene because as the lab instructor said, "It had not been proven to cause cancer, YET". The emphasis was his, and he went on for some time that any organic solvent was likely to cause significant harm to living cells, and to keep all work under the hoods and wear proper protective equipment to avoid splash or spill hazards.

          FWIW, Motorola leaked thousands of gallon TCE (Trichloroethy

      • EPA calls tetrachloroethylene perchloroethylene or PCE, which only has a partial ban being phased on. Trichloroethylene is getting the near complete ban, but just like in Europe a lot of industry will switch to PCE (called PER in the EU).

        TCE is a known carcinogen and PCE only a likely one, but that seems more a question of time than a fundamental difference to me.

        PCE decays to TCE (and 1,2-DCE and vinyl chloride...) in the environment.

  • EPA Uninstalls 'TCE', the Malware in WaterOS (Score:5, Funny)

    by Press2ToContinue ( 2424598 ) on Monday November 06, 2023 @11:30AM (#63984684)
    In a move akin to realizing that 'rm -rf /' might not be the best maintenance strategy, the Biden administration is prepping to hit 'Ctrl+Z' on TCE, the not-so-secret ingredient in America's H2O cocktail. TCE, or as the geeks might call it, 'That-Carcinogenic-Element', has been doubling as a multitool in stain removers and a less-fun kind of 'trojan horse' in drinking water.

    EPA's deputy administrator Janet McCabe seems to have taken a page out of every IT department's book: "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Except, in this case, it's "Have you tried not poisoning the water supply?"

    With the ban on TCE, America could finally get the much-needed system update to its WaterOS. Here's hoping the patch doesn't come with any surprise features, like turning the frogs into mutants, because, let's face it, nobody's got time for a real-life version of 'Frogger'.

  • Well, at least (Score:5, Funny)

    by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Monday November 06, 2023 @11:30AM (#63984688) Journal
    At least they didn't ban trichloromethylene, which counteracts all effects of alcohol in your system [youtu.be].

  • Trichloroethylene"sunsetted" in EU in 2016 (Score:3)

    by CaptainOfSpray ( 1229754 ) on Monday November 06, 2023 @11:41AM (#63984726)
    After that date, a special permit could be granted for a specific use/application, with conditions, on a case-by-case basis.

    Nice of USA to catch up, 10 years late.

    • You can pry my beloved Trichloroethylene from my cold dead hands!

      • It used to be sold in quart glass bottles in hardware stores. I sometimes (high school age) washed greasy hands in the stuff. It is not entirely stable in casual conditions. One time I opened the cabinet and saw corrosion on the steel screw cap. I did a cupped hand waft, smelled HCl, and confirmed by fuming with ammonia. It was viewed as a safer alternative to carbon tetrachloride.
      • Could you take a few nips from the bottle first? Apparently that will make prying it from your cold, dead hands much easier according to the EPA.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      You make it seem like it's a significant thing. It isn't.

      They'll just switch from TCE to PCE, like Europe did. Because that's so much better...

      • Because that's so much better...

        PCE is about 25 times safer than TCE, in terms of how much you need to inhale to suffer toxic effects. (data: safety limits reported by Wikipedia.)

  • That's going to produce some very interesting lawsuits.

  • "harm male reproduction" (Score:3)

    by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Monday November 06, 2023 @12:39PM (#63984910) Homepage
    Well, we don't want males reproducing anyway. Showing any concern for men's issues harms women, right? Oh, wait...

  • Wow, that's pretty much everyone affected.

    I will say that I've been told BraKleen (TCE brake cleaner) was liver-toxic back in the 70's. The rule I've always heard when using that stuff is "As much ventilation as you can possibly get, then double that."

    It might be in drinking water? Holy crap.

    • Re:Hoof Polishes? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by HiThere ( 15173 ) <[ten.knilhtrae] [ta] [nsxihselrahc]> on Monday November 06, 2023 @01:16PM (#63984998)

      It's almost certainly a dosage issue.

      1) You can be sure that one molecule of the stuff wouldn't harm you.
      2) You can be sure that replacing your blood with it would be a bad idea.

      Everything else falls somewhere in between.

    • Modern brake cleaner formula is mostly acetone and light petroleum distillates. If it's got a "highly flammable" warning on the side of the can, it's probably not in any danger of going away under this proposed ban.

      • exactly — there are at least five different formulations of brake cleaner sold today: chlorinated, non-chlorinated(high voc), non-chlorinated(low voc), non-chlorinated(10% voc) and non-chlorinated(ultralow voc - southern california aqd grade), all designed around these sorts of laws.
  • TCE is a poison, not a toxin.

  • a carcinogen and a liver toxin, harm male reproduction, cause neurological damage, damage kidneys and cause Parkinson's disease.

    I love the smell of mutant profits in the morning!

  • Won't someone please think of the horses! (Score:3)

    by TwistedGreen ( 80055 ) on Tuesday November 07, 2023 @04:24AM (#63986646)

    Damn. time to stock up on hoof polish.

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