Senate OKs Bill to End Methyl Chloroform Production

The Senate approved legislation Wednesday to phase out U.S. production of methyl chloroform, a widely used industrial cleaning solvent that damages Earth’s protective ozone layer but which remains unregulated.

Senators, working on the clean air bill, voted 95 to 2 to adopt the measure by Sen. John H. Chafee (R-R.I.) that sets a deadline of the year 2000 for halting production of the chemical, used by thousands of U.S. companies to clean electronic, computer and metal components and make glues, coatings and inks.

Chafee said scientific studies have provided “incontrovertible” evidence that methyl chloroform is playing a major role in depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, which screens out harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

And he said that, because of its relatively short lifetime in the atmosphere, reducing methyl chloroform is the most important step the nation can take to stop near-term increases in ultraviolet radiation, which medical experts say would cause millions of additional cases of skin cancer and cataracts.

Methyl chloroform lasts only six or seven years in the atmosphere, contrasted with decades for other ozone-depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. Thus, Chafee said, reducing methyl chloroform would produce the quickest benefits for the ozone layer.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that phasing out methyl chloroform by the turn of the century would prevent almost 4 million cases of skin cancer, 65,000 cancer deaths and 364,000 cases of cataracts among Americans born before the year 2075.

Chemical companies have strongly opposed unilateral U.S. action on methyl chloroform, saying only worldwide emission controls can be effective in protecting the ozone layer. They say Chafee’s legislation will serve only as a disadvantage to American companies.

They note methyl chloroform is not regulated now under the Montreal Protocol, the international ozone protection treaty under which most nations have agreed to restrict production and use of CFCs and halons, another ozone-depleting chemical.

Sen. Steve Symms (R-Ida.), echoing industry arguments, said he had a “great deal of concern” that other nations might take advantage of unilateral U.S. action on methyl chloroform.

“My concern is we do something unilaterally in the United States and we simply drive this business offshore,” he said. “It may give other people a tremendous competitive advantage over the United States.”

But Chafee contended international restrictions on methyl chloroform are likely when signatory nations meet this June to review the Montreal Protocol. Most of the major industrial powers have indicated they will support tougher measures.