A chemical company wants a panel of federal judges to review EPA’s assessment of 1,4-dioxane, a cancer-linked chemical found in cleaning products and as a drinking water pollutant.
Union Carbide, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, filed a petition in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals against EPA’s 1,4-dioxane revised risk evaluation, which found the chemical poses an unreasonable risk to health.
It is the first legal challenge launched against any of the Biden administration’s redos of chemical risk assessments completed under the Trump administration, creating a potential for new precedent under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
The petition did not outline specific complaints. A United Carbide spokesperson said in an email the company “firmly believes in efforts to reasonably define regulatory standards and has attempted to work with the EPA toward that goal by providing comprehensive input during the commenting period.”
