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The Biden administration has officially determined that the chemical formaldehyde poses an “unreasonable” risk to human health and must be regulated.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) he said this week that “formaldehyde poses an unreasonable risk of injury to human health, specifically to workers and consumers.”
The agency noted that the chemical “is found almost everywhere” and therefore “people are routinely exposed to formaldehyde in indoor and outdoor environments, often from more than one source at a time.”
He also said that long-term exposure to the substance can cause cancer as well as reduced lung function and worsening asthma.
As a result, he said he would try to address the “unreasonable risk” by proposing a rule to protect workers and consumers.
“Having made this unreasonable risk determination, (the Toxic Substances Control Act) requires EPA to issue a rule that completely eliminates unreasonable risks from formaldehyde,” said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, senior attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, on The Hill.
However, the actual rule to regulate formaldehyde will depend on the incoming Trump administration. The president-elect’s first administration took a less stringent approach to chemical regulation.
Kalmuss-Katz said that because of the finding, the Trump administration will be “legally obligated to regulate formaldehyde.”
However, it is possible that the Trump administration will try to reverse the determination of the Biden era.
The last Trump administration faced significant scrutiny over its handling of formaldehyde afterward reports that this deleted findings linking the substance to cancer.
In response to the Biden EPA finding, the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry lobby group, highlighted the importance of formaldehyde and said the determination was based on a “flawed” assessment.
“Without robust U.S. formaldehyde manufacturing, we could face increased product prices, reduced economic output and a loss of U.S. competitive advantage,” the chemical industry group said.
He vowed to “challenge the next administration and safeguard access to this essential chemical.”
The EPA’s new determination found that 58 of the 63 uses of formaldehyde that fall under its jurisdiction involve unreasonable risks. This includes uses in consumer automotive products, craft supplies and leather goods.
He also said workers at sites where the chemical is used are “at the highest risk”
The determination does not apply to hair straightening products, a common use of formaldehyde that receives significant public scrutiny because it falls under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA has indicated that he would propose a rule to ban the use of the chemical in hair straightening, but has not yet done so. At this point, there would be no time to fully implement a ban before the Trump administration takes over. An FDA spokesman declined to comment on the timing of the rule.
Kalmuss-Katz said the Biden EPA determination did not go far enough to protect communities living in areas where formaldehyde is used heavily.
“The EPA correctly found that formaldehyde poses an unreasonable risk to human health,” he said, but he regretted that the agency “did not find an unreasonable risk to close the line communities … will give place to a rule that will not fully address the unreasonable risks and leaves too many people exposed to serious harm.”
