Meet EPA's Latest Chemical Bogeyman: "Glymes" and Their Crimes
The EPA has a new bogeyman -- "glymes," an obscure group of industrial solvents that turn up in common household products like paint, carpet cleaner and printer ink. Glymes, technically known as end-capped polyethylene or polypropylene glycols, are incredibly useful -- but they've also been linked to a variety of nasty health problems including miscarriages and gene mutation.
There's mounting evidence that they're a big enough threat -- um, miscarriages and malformations? -- to warrant at least strongly worded warning labels on products that contain them. Europe is already on the case. Products that contain monoglyme, for example, are required to carry warnings like "may impair fertility" and "may cause harm to the unborn child."
So far, the EPA isn't banning glymes or requiring warning labels. However, the agency is concerned enough about increased use of glymes that it's taking a far more aggressive regulatory approach than it has with BPA, the chemical once found in Nalgene water bottles.
The EPA has proposed a rule that would allow the agency to restrict new uses of glymes in products. Existing use of the chemicals will be allowed. The EPA would essentially become a glyme-gatekeeper, which doesn't sound like much. Still, it's one of the few weapons the EPA is authorized to use under federal law.
Glyme and punishment
So far, animal studies have linked three kinds of glymes to an array of developmental and reproductive problems including decreased sperm production and deterioration of bone marrow, thymus gland and the spleen. One animal study linked ethylglyme to increased numbers of deformed rodent fetuses, Scientific American noted. The EPA is targeting the remaining 11 glymes as well because they have similar chemical structures.
The EPA is concerned that as glymes are used in more products, consumers will increase their risk of either breathing in vapors from paint cans or emissions from factories that use the solvent in their operations. More than a million pounds of glymes are sold in the U.S. each year. People also can absorb glymes through their skin when handling certain products or even accidentally consume it. Diglyme, which studies have linked to reproductive problems, has been detected in drinking water.
Thousands of workers who handle these chemicals, which are used as solvents in a seemingly endless number of industries, have the highest risk of exposure. Numerous other industries have dawdled on the issue and haven't changed how they handle glymes. However, the semiconductor industry changed its manufacturing practices after a study led by University of California Davis professor Marc B. Schenker -- and a similar study at IBM -- linked glymes to miscarriages in its workers, according to Scientific American.
Don't do the glyme if you can't do the time
Unfortunately, the EPA's biggest glyme-fighting weapon is mostly a squirt gun. Sure, the agency can cause some minor annoyances for industries that use glymes. But it can't force existing glyme-laden products off the market.
Of course, the EPA may have bigger worries on its hands. The agency has come under repeated attack in recent years over its declaration that greenhouse gas emissions endanger the public. The GOP, and even some Democrats, have tried to strip the EPA of its ability to regulate GHGs under the Clean Air Act.
The issue of glymes falls under a different law, but that doesn't make it any safer. Glymes are valuable tools used by the textile industry, microchips makers, pharmaceutical plants and even in hydraulic fracturing, the controversial technique used to unleash gas from shale. In other words, plenty of powerful industries are keen to keeping glymes around. Glyme lobbying could become the hot new gig on K Street.
Photo from Flickr user Sklathill, CC 2.0
Related: