Toxic Paint Removers: Safer Choices

Background and objectives:

Deaths among workers using paint removers containing methylene chloride (MeCl) initiated investigation and outreach by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).  Workers and consumers may be exposed to MeCl when removing paint or coatings, manufacturing foam products, painting with epoxy paints, or spraying adhesives.  Most users do not appreciate MeCl’s extreme volatility, toxicity, and ability to permeate gloves and respirators.  Given the wide-spread use of MeCl, the Occupational Health Branch at CDPH developed the Toxic Paint Removers: Safer Choices Campaign.   

Methods:

We conducted a needs assessment of paint and hardware store managers, contractors, and paint product suppliers.  The purpose was to identify  those resources that would be most useful in assisting users to move toward selecting safer choices, the most effective messages and communication methods, and the best outreach and dissemination approaches.

Results:

The needs assessment informed  the development of a poster for store shelves and employee trainings that displayed paint strippers categorized into 4 different color-coded hazard levels; a safer products guide for shoppers; a chart on the appropriate type of ventilation and personal protective equipment; and an outreach and dissemination strategy.

Conclusions:

MeCl-containing paint strippers have been substantially restricted in the European Union.  In the U.S., a campaign to promote safer substitutes should complement the historical focus on lowering exposure limits.  Our efforts are an example of how the movement toward green chemistry products involves a nexus of encouraging research, developing new technology, and making effective, commercially-available substitute products more widely promoted.