EPA considers reclassifying vinyl chloride as a high priority substance

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THE US Environmental Protection Agency has announced a formal review of how it classifies five toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride.

Over the next three months, the EPA will gather information to determine whether vinyl chloride should be reclassified as a high-priority substance under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Such a reclassification would lead to an investigation into whether vinyl chloride poses an “unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment”.

Along with vinyl chloride – already classed as a known carcinogen – the EPA is also reviewing acetaldehyde, acrylonitrile, benzenamine, and MBOCA, all four of which are classed as probable carcinogens.

Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the US Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said: “These risk evaluations will be used to determine how to protect people from harmful chemical exposures.”

The health risks of vinyl chloride were brought into focus by a 2023 train derailment in the village of East Palestine, Ohio. A freight train carrying the chemical leaked after running off the rails, forcing authorities to order an emergency evacuation of the area. To prevent an explosion, the train cars were drained of the vinyl chloride, which was then burned, releasing plumes of highly toxic gas into the atmosphere.

Train operator Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay more than US$1.7bn in settlements to address the long-term regional health impacts of the incident, which can include liver cancer and leukaemia.

A report last year by Beyond Plastics found that vinyl chloride had been illegally released into the atmosphere every five days since 2010. Beyond Plastics president Judith Enck said the EPA’s upcoming assessment is “one of the most important chemical review processes ever undertaken”.

However, the review is expected to face strong backlash from industry. In response to the EPA’s announcement, trade association the Vinyl Institute released a statement saying it looked forward to promoting the “many indispensable uses of this highly regulated material”.

The Vinyl Institute spent US$560,000 on political lobbying in 2023. The most recently available data show the group’s political donations in the first three-quarters of 2024 match those of the previous year.

‘Corporate polluters’

New rules on vinyl chloride usage would only take effect after the formal assessment concludes, which could take up to three years. Some EPA staff have already expressed concern about the effect the incoming Donald Trump administration could have on the agency’s capacity to effectively regulate.

Trump’s nominee to head the EPA has also drawn scepticism of how rigorously polluting industries will be regulated, after the president-elect said that his ally Lee Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses”.

Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, said that Zeldin’s nomination “lays bare Donald Trump’s intentions to sell our health, our communities, our jobs and our future out to corporate polluters”.