EPA Overly Confident of Solvent’s Safety, Advisers Warn

The EPA doesn’t have enough data about a widely used solvent’s effects on the environment to support a conclusion that the chemical doesn’t have the potential to harm wildlife, some agency advisers said Sept. 12.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals met Sept. 10-12 to critique the agency’s draft evaluation of 1-bromopropane (1-BP), which is primarily used to clean grease and dirt off equipment used in many industries. The solvent also is released from building insulation panels.

The EPA’s separate conclusions that some workplace exposures to 1-BP could pose too great a potential harm to ...