Dear All:

Please keep in mind the extensive comment that the Committee on Chemical Safety sent to EPA. This comment does not address Mary Beth’s question but provides some information about the initial confusion related to the new regulation:

https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/publications/epa-hq-oppt-2020-0465-2023-07-03.pdf

Since then, ACS has put together a page that provides some additional resources related to DCM: 

https://www.acs.org/green-chemistry-sustainability/research-innovation/solvents/dcm.html

with the goal of supporting academic departments as they are getting aligned with new EPA regulations.

Marta Gmurczyk

ACS Safety Programs, Senior Portfolio Manager

[Actual Sender is owner-dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**princeton.edu]

I had a PI reach out to me recently to ask about the current DCM regulations and how to best interact with their ESH department to address them. The issue was the PI felt ESH’s approach was not reasonable. I found myself pointing them towards the DCHAS listerv conversations, but I wish I had had something more tangible (and centralized) to send them towards; I think PIs, researchers, and ESH professionals would benefit.

Years ago, I asked Imke to write COVID-19: A Risk Assessment Perspective (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.0c00035), and that paper has more that 20k views and 80 citations. I think a paper on DCM written with a similar approach where a single answer is not provided, but rather a summary of the various variables one might want to consider would also be impactful. Other paper I have asked people to write because I saw a need for the information include:

1.                  A Review of the LD50 and Its Current Role in Hazard Communication (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.0c00096)

2.                  Safety Data Sheets: Challenges for Authors, Expectations for End-Users (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.2c00015)

3.                  GHS Implementation to Strengthen Global Chemical Hazard Communication: Will We Ever Get There? (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.0c00114)

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