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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8151.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
announced it is extending until Dec. 29 its reopening of the record on its
proposed standard for methylene chloride (MC), a probable human carcinogen
widely used as an industrial solvent.
The proposed rule would reduce the permissible worker
exposure limit from the current 500 parts of MC per million parts of air (500
ppm) to 25 ppm, averaged over eight hours. Ancillary measures such as employee
training and medical surveillance also would be required. OSHA has estimated
that the proposed rule would reduce cancer risk by 95 percent for more than
185,000 workers.
OSHA's proposed MC risk assessment for cancer was based
primarily on extrapolation from mouse cancer bioassay data. Considerable data
are already available regarding this issue in the rulemaking record.
On Oct. 24 OSHA reopened the rulemaking for 30 days with
comments limited to the subject of recently conducted studies submitted by the
Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance (HSIA) which assert that species
differences in the enzymatic metabolism of MC make the mouse a poor surrogate
for estimating human cancer risk. The use of the mouse data is a critical issue
in the MC rulemaking. The agency reopened the record to incorporate these
studies and to give the public an opportunity to comment on their validity and
on the appropriateness of the conclusions drawn by HSIA.
The Oct. 24 notice generated substantial interest and the
agency is concerned that the initial 30 days was insufficient to allow full
participation by interested parties. Accordingly, OSHA is reopening the comment
period until Dec. 29, 1995.
Requests for copies of the HSIA studies should be
addressed to Christine Whittaker, Room N-3718, Health Standards Programs, OSHA,
U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20210.
Telephone: (202) 219-7174. Fax: (202) 219-7125.
Written comments on the studies must be postmarked by Dec.
29, 1995, and submitted in quadruplicate to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No.
H-071B, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Ave., NW,
Washington, DC 20210. Phone: (202) 219-7894. All materials submitted will be
available for inspection and copying in the docket office. Materials previously
submitted to the docket for the rulemaking do not have to be resubmitted.
Notice of the reopening appeared in the Dec. 6, 1995,
Federal Register.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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