EPA proposes banning cancer-causing chemical TCE used in automotive care and other products

By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press

WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to ban the cancer-causing chemical trichloroethylene. The chemical is known as TCE. It’s used in a range of consumer products, including automobile brake cleaners, furniture care products and arts and crafts spray coating. The EPA wants to ban manufacturing, processing and distributing the chemical within a year. Companies using it in electric vehicle batteries or in making some refrigerants would be get more time to transition away from it. The EPA has found TCE causes liver cancer, kidney cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It can also damage the central nervous system, liver, kidneys and immune system.