Federal Appeals Court Decision Rejected EPA’s Ban on Methylene Chloride

A federal appeals court on Sept. 15 canceled the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule banning all consumer and most industrial and commercial uses of the solvent methylene chloride.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit released the full docket here.

In 2020, the EPA finalized its risk evaluation for methylene chloride. The methylene chloride risk evaluation contains the agency’s final determinations on which conditions of use present unreasonable risks to human health or the environment based on a robust review of the scientific data, said reporting at the time.

Years later, the House Energy and Commerce Committee leadership met, as reported in Happi, regarding legislation to reauthorize the EPA ability to collect administrative fees for chemical reviews under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) while proposing additional changes to the statute.  

In 2026, the FDA recalled several nail polish removers that used the solvent, as reported in Happi.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) issued the following statement on the Fifth Circuit’s decision regarding methylene chloride:

“America’s chemical manufacturers welcome the Court’s decision, which reinforces that TSCA decisions must be grounded in science, evidence, and real-world conditions. We appreciate the current EPA’s efforts to bring greater transparency, stakeholder engagement, and regulatory certainty to TSCA implementation and this ruling provides an important foundation for that work.”