Lower Federal Limit Set for Carcinogenic Metal
From Times Wire Reports
The Labor Department reduced the acceptable levels of workplace exposure to a cancer-causing metal, hexavalent chromium, but critics said the new standard still left thousands of workers at risk.
The new rule limits worker exposure to the carcinogenic metal to 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air, a large reduction from the old standard but a higher level than what had been proposed by the agency two years ago. The old standard, issued in 1971, was 52 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
Hexavalent chromium is used in chrome plating, stainless steel welding and the production of chromate pigments and dyes.
