Home improvement retailer Lowe’s has taken a step to keep its customers safe. The company announced Tuesday that it is pulling paint strippers that have methylene chloride and NMP after the two chemicals have been blamed for accidental deaths.
NMP is also knows as N-Methyl2-pyrrolidone, UPI reported.
Some of the 19 products that will no longer be available include Klean Strip, Goof Off and Jasco, The New York Times reported. Some of the products are made by W.M. Barr, which is located in Memphis, Tennessee.
They will be pulled from the shelves by the end of the year, Lowe’s officials said.
Methylene chloride turns into carbon monoxide and can be inhaled even when those using it wear a mask. It can cause asphyxiation and heart attacks and has been connected to some cancers, UPI reported.
Environmental groups have put pressure on hardware stores to stop selling products that contain the chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency had plans to ban paint strippers that contained methylene chloride, as an amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act, but the current administration's EPA leaders delayed the ban to review the argument, UPI reported.
The EPA announced earlier this month that it is going ahead with the ban of methylene chloride, saying that it will use the previous risk assessments to ban the chemicals for private use, but will allow it in commercial furniture refinishing, The New York Times reported.
It has not said how it could regulate NMP.
The Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance says that banning methylene chloride from products would mean lost jobs, and say that more warnings are needed instead. They also claim that paint strippers without the chemicals are not as effective, UPI reported.
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