State Set to Add Methanol to Prop. 65’s Warning List

Companies in coatings, automotive and adhesives are bracing for yet another listing of a popular solvent as hazardous.

State regulators are close to listing solvent methanol as a hazardous chemical under the state’s Proposition 65 law, requiring employers that use methanol to notify workers and neighbors that they could face harmful health effects.

Methanol is a “wood alcohol” that’s used in antifreeze, cleansing solutions, varnishes, paints and adhesives. It’s commonly used as a chemical agent to help make other industrial chemicals, such as formaldehyde.

Last month, scientists with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment at the California Environmental Protection Agency released a report saying it is considering listing methanol as a hazardous chemical under Proposition 65.

The report cited extensive prior research that has found methanol to have harmful effects on the development of fetuses.

Industries that use methanol and other interested parties have until Aug. 21 to comment on the findings. Then, if requested, the office will hold a public hearing on the proposed listing. In any event, methanol could be added to the list of Proposition 65 chemicals by the end of the year.

For many manufacturers and other businesses that use methanol, its listing as a Proposition 65 chemical only will mean that they have to add another chemical to already existing notices that are published in community newspapers or are distributed to employees and neighbors.

The listing would have a bigger effect on companies that currently use no other Proposition 65 chemicals.

“For people that don’t want to send out Proposition 65 notices because of the negative publicity that generates, they will be motivated to phase out the use of methanol,” said Ed Laird, president of Huntington Beach-based Coatings Resource Corp.

The company uses methanol in its coatings, Laird said. As a result of the listing, Laird said he plans to switch to ethanol, a close chemical cousin.

“The only difference is that methanol evaporates faster, so if we switch to ethanol it will take a little longer for the coatings to dry,” he said.

Of course, with increasing demand for ethanol as an alternative fuel and a fuel additive, switching to ethanol could become an expensive proposition for companies that use it in bulk.

Source: Orange County Business Journal
July 16, 2007

back