The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently approved the two unnamed chemicals for use in the semiconductor industry even though it also found potential risks to workers and the general public, the groups alleged. The chemicals’ names were redacted in attached EPA documents.
“The Trump administration is rushing dangerous chemicals to market without the review or the protection that the law requires,” said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, senior attorney with Earthjustice, which is representing the Sierra Club and CHIPS Communities United in the legal challenges, in a statement.
“Here, EPA admits that it has not evaluated the full extent of these chemicals’ health risks, yet it is still sending them into communities across the country and leaving the public to discover their effects one doctor’s visit at a time,” Kalmuss-Katz added.
For the first chemical, the EPA found there could be reproductive health risks and risks to child development in the general public if they are exposed to the chemical through drinking water or air pollution, according to EPA’s consent order approving the chemical, which was attached to the legal challenge.
The EPA did not calculate the exact level of risk because of “insufficient information,” but it still approved the chemical, the order states.
For both chemicals, redacted EPA consent orders appear to indicate that “acute lethality” —sudden death — is the primary health concern in similar chemicals.
Read more at TheHill.com.
