EPA Avoids Definitive Choice On TCE Exposure Limit, Extending Debate

EPA’s proposed TSCA rule for trichloroethylene (TCE) avoids taking a definitive stance on the long-simmering debate over contested research linking it to fetal heart defects, proposing a worker exposure limit based on that effect but also a less-stringent alternative that uses other effects, though even that option is much tougher than OSHA’s limits. The Oct. 23 proposal seeks to ban “all” applications of TCE. Most uses of the solvent would be subject to a one-year phaseout timeline, but others deemed...