EPA's New Formaldehyde Risk Evaluation Would Lead to Draconian Regulations

In a draft risk evaluation on March 15, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that formaldehyde presents an unreasonable risk to human health. This begins a new regulatory process that could result in stringent new regulations in 2026.

In response, the American Chemistry Council stated that "EPA’s suggested workplace limits are unworkable and ignore practices that are already in place to protect workers" and that the new limits "are 30 times below the recently updated European Union occupational limits of 300 parts per billion, lower than levels that can be detected, and below levels measured in ambient urban air and U.S. residences."

EPA is accepting public comments for 60 days as they rush to finalize the risk evaluation by the end of 2024.

Read more: Risk Evaluation for Formaldehyde → | ACC Comments on EPA’s Draft Formaldehyde TSCA Risk Evaluation →