Paint stripping with methylene chloride: Due to regulatory failure, workers have much better protection than consumers

Although there are other options for stripping paint, methylene chloride remains the most popular paint stripper. Some paint stripper formulations, used by consumers and workers, are close to 100% methylene chloride. Workers and consumers perform similar tasks while stripping paint. OSHA's standard for methylene chloride, a "potential occupational carcinogen" with other serious adverse effects, requires limited access areas and respirators and other protection provided by employers as needed. Consumers who use methylene chloride-containing paint strippers at home are inadequately protected against the harmful effects of exposure to the chemical because the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and EPA have failed to act. CPSC has the authority to require changes in products containing methylene chloride, but the agency hasn't taken action. EPA has jurisdiction over individual chemicals such as methylene chloride, and although EPA has regulated methylene chloride in water, air and hazardous wastes, use of EPA's statutory authority to limit consumer exposures to methylene chloride in paint strippers has not taken place. An information packet on methylene chloride-containing paint strippers is the only visible product of those agencies to date. Material safety data sheets (MSDS) for methylene chloride-containing paint strippers tend to be poor communicators of information to consumers, although MSDS are routinely used for consumer information. OSHA, CPSC and EPA should cooperate to improve those MSDS, and to eliminate gaps in regulatory authority.