EPA Is Reconsidering Its 2024 Carbon Tetrachloride Rule

A 30-day public comment period is the first step in EPA’s reconsideration of its final risk management rule for the solvent carbon tetrachloride. The rule has been the subject of several legal challenges since it was published in December 2024. EPA says it is particularly interested in feedback regarding the rule’s existing chemical exposure limit of 0.03 ppm as an eight-hour time-weighted average. For example, the agency asks commenters to provide information about the “feasibility of exposure monitoring and whether the use of a different exposure limit would be more appropriate to inform risk management.”

Carbon tetrachloride has been banned in consumer products since 1970, and many uses were phased out in the 1990s as required by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. But the chemical is still used in the production of refrigerants, aerosol propellants, and foam-blowing agents. The current version of EPA’s risk management rule allows carbon tetrachloride to continue to be used in vinyl chloride manufacturing, re-packaging as a laboratory chemical, as a processing aid in the manufacture of agricultural products, and other uses, but requires employers to follow a workplace chemical protection plan described in the regulation. High exposure to carbon tetrachloride can damage the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

According to an EPA news release, the review of the carbon tetrachloride rule “is being done in accordance with applicable law, Executive Orders, and Administration policies.” The comment period is open until Nov. 10. For more information, see the Federal Register notice and EPA’s webpage on risk management for carbon tetrachloride.