A federal appeals court rejected key parts of EPA’s rule restricting a cancer-linked flame retardant, ordering the agency to either tighten its limits or better justify why it shouldn’t.
The unanimous decision Wednesday from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals leaves Biden-era regulations for decaBDE in place while the Trump administration must revisit decisions not to regulate the chemical in recyclable plastics, waste, wastewater discharges and sewage sludge used as fertilizer.
Those decisions “were not supported by substantial evidence,” Judge Ronald Gould, a Clinton appointee, wrote for the panel. Judges Sidney Thomas, another Clinton appointee, and Brian Morris, an Obama appointee, joined.
DecaBDE, or decabromodiphenyl ether, is an additive widely used to suppress flames in textiles, plastics, electronics and other materials. EPA’s review of the persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemical under the Toxic Substances Control Act acknowledged its associations to liver cancer and possible toxic developmental, neurological and immunological effects.
