EPA weighs formal review of vinyl chloride, toxic chemical that burned in Ohio train derailment
The Biden administration says it could soon launch a formal evaluation of risks posed by vinyl chloride, the cancer-causing chemical that burned in a towering plume of toxic smoke following the fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration says it could soon launch a formal evaluation of risks posed by vinyl chloride, the cancer-causing chemical that burned in a towering plume of toxic black smoke following the fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
The Environmental Protection Agency is set to review risks posed by a handful of chemicals later this year, and is considering chemicals used for plastic production as a key benchmark. Vinyl chloride is among a range of chemicals eligible for review, and “EPA could begin a risk evaluation on vinyl chloride in the near future,'' the agency said in a statement to The Associated Press.
If selected, EPA would study vinyl chloride to determine whether it poses an «unreasonable risk to human health or the environment,'' a process that would take at least three years.
Environmental and public health activists cheered the development, saying EPA should have banned vinyl chloride years ago.
“If one positive thing can come out of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine — and I would argue nothing positive has come out of it so far — it is for the Biden administration to use their existing legal authority to start the process to ban vinyl chloride,″ said Judith Enck, a former regional EPA administrator and president of Beyond Plastics, an advocacy group that seeks to end plastic pollution.
“That accident was a chilling warning that we must act now to ban petrochemicals like vinyl chloride, and keep communities safe from known
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