The regulatory future of methylene chloride, a chemical used in paint strippers, sealants and spot removers, is unsettled after a federal appeals court vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2024 rule governing its use. The chemical has been linked to dozens of deaths, including Joshua Atkins, who died in 2018 after inhaling methylene chloride while using a paint stripper, according to an autopsy.
According to WSB-TV, the EPA issued its 2024 methylene chloride regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act after determining that the chemical posed an unreasonable risk of injury to health. The rule followed a challenge by industry petitioners that reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The Fifth Circuit granted the industry petition, finding legal errors and insufficient evidentiary support, and vacated the EPA’s 2024 rule and its associated risk determination, according to the court’s opinion. The court remanded the matter for further proceedings, leaving the agency to reconsider how it addresses methylene chloride’s risks rather than allowing the 2024 rule to remain in effect. The next regulatory process could take years, WSB-TV reported.
What Remains Banned, and What Doesn't
The separate 2019 EPA regulation remains in place. It prohibited the manufacture, import, processing and distribution of methylene chloride for consumer paint and coating removal, rather than banning every consumer use of the chemical. The commercial and workplace provisions adopted in 2024 are the provisions affected by the Fifth Circuit’s ruling.
What the ruling changes
The Fifth Circuit’s decision vacated the 2024 rule itself and the EPA’s associated risk determination, rather than merely pausing enforcement. The agency must conduct further proceedings in response to the court’s findings. The Federal Register shows that the vacated rule was not a complete ban: It allowed limited, controlled uses for certain purposes alongside additional worker protections. EPA data also point to possible source-reduction steps. An agency analysis of 2013 Toxic Release Inventory data found that 61 of 280 U.S. facilities reporting methylene chloride use had implemented new source-reduction activities, including switches by some facilities to water- or limonene-based cleaning solutions, according to the EPA.
The chemical itself is not a fringe substance. Methylene chloride is used in paint strippers, sealants and spot removers, and the EPA has reported that at least 88 people have died from acute exposure to it since 1980. Health effects tied to the chemical reportedly include cancer, liver damage and neurological damage, and some industries continue to use it despite those documented risks.
Why the Chemical Persists in Industry Use
WSB-TV reported that methylene chloride can work faster than some alternatives, particularly as a paint remover. That performance advantage helps explain why some industries continued using it despite the documented risk of acute exposure, while the EPA now must reconsider the regulatory remedy for that risk.
That tension, between a chemical's industrial usefulness and its acute lethality, sits at the center of the regulatory back-and-forth now unfolding in court. Channel 2 Action News, which began investigating health concerns surrounding methylene chloride in 2019, said it will continue to follow the issue as the EPA determines its next steps. The station's reporting on the case is credited to Sophia Choi.
For families like the Atkinses, the legal wrangling over statutory authority and rulemaking procedure is inseparable from the human cost already on record. Joshua Atkins's death remains one of the cases cited alongside the EPA's broader death count as the agency now faces a lengthy process to craft a new rule addressing methylene chloride's commercial use.
