EPA Finalizes Ban on Chemicals Linked to Camp Lejeune Cancer Side Effects

Federal environmental regulators have announced a ban on uses of the chemicals trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), which were the cause of widespread water contamination at Camp Lejeune, acknowledging that both are toxic and increase the risk of numerous types of cancer.

The ban of TCE and PCE was announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a press release issued on December 9, calling the act a “major milestone for chemical safety after decades of inadequate protections and serious delays.” The ban includes all uses of TCE, as well as many commercial uses of PCE.

PCE, often referred to as Perc, is used in numerous industrial processes, and has been linked to liver, kidney, brain and testicular cancer, damage to the kidneys, liver and immune system, and the risk of neurotoxicity and reproductive problems.

While the ban on PCE is not as complete as the EPA’s actions against TCE, the new rules will also require additional worker protection for those PCE uses that remain legal, according to the agency.

TCE is a solvent used for metal degreasing, decaffeinating coffee and dry cleaning, among other uses. It has been in commercial production since the 1920s. It is often found in cleaning wipes and other cleaning products, spray adhesives, carpet cleaners and spot removers.

Past studies have linked TCE exposure to an increased risk of congenital heart disease, miscarriage and cancer. The chemical has been found to contaminate up to a third of groundwater in the U.S., including the waters of the Camp Lejeune Marine training base between the mid-1950s and late-1980s, which more recently led to hundreds of thousands of Camp Lejeune cancer lawsuits currently being pursued against the U.S. government.

It was TCE’s roles in dry cleaning and metal degreasing at Camp Lejeune that caused the water contamination problems. However, it is found not only there, but also at about half of the 1,300 most toxic Superfund sites in the U.S., according to a study published in 2023 in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. In that study, researchers found TCE exposure increased the risk of Parkinson’s disease by a factor of five.

Concerns about the side effects of TCE exposure have increased dramatically over the past few years, after reports confirmed that more than a million Marines and their family members may have been exposed to the chemical from contaminated Camp Lejeune water between the early 1950s and late 1980s.

Some estimates have suggested that the toxic chemicals in Camp Lejeune water may be responsible for more than 50,000 cases of breast cancer, 28,000 cases of bladder cancer and 24,000 cases of renal cancer, as well as thousands of cases involving Parkinson’s disease and other health complications. It is also believed Camp Lejeune water caused birth defects and wrongful death for thousands of unborn children exposed in utero.

“It’s simply unacceptable to continue to allow cancer-causing chemicals to be used for things like glue, dry cleaning or stain removers when safer alternatives exist,” Michal Freedhoff, EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention said in the press release. “These rules are grounded in best-available science that demonstrates the harmful impacts of PCE and TCE.”

TCE and PCE Bans

Under the new TCE rule, all uses of TCE will be prohibited, with most uses being banned within the next year, the EPA indicates. In addition, a limited number of uses of TCE will be phased out over time.

However, the EPA indicates that all uses not banned within the next year will require extensive worker protections to limit TCE exposure.

For the PCE ban, the EPA will oversee a phaseout of PCE use in dry cleaning over the next 10 years, with use of PCE in newly acquired dry-cleaning machines being banned within six months. Other compliance dates will depend on the type of dry-cleaning machine used, with older machines being phased out first.

“EPA’s final risk management rule requires companies to rapidly phase down manufacturing, processing and distribution of PCE for all consumer use and many uses at industrial and commercial workplaces, most of which will be fully phased out in less than three years,” the EPA press release states. “For most of the uses of PCE that EPA is prohibiting, EPA’s analysis found that alternative products with similar cost and efficacy to PCE are reasonably available.”

Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Lawsuits

The U.S. government currently faces more than 325,000 Camp Lejeune lawsuits and administrative claims, each seeking financial compensation for various types of cancer and other ailments allegedly caused by TCE, PCE and other toxic chemicals in the Marine base’s water supply.

Each of the claims were submitted within a two year window provided by the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) of 2022, which closed on August 10, 2024, and allowed veterans, family members and others exposed to the toxic water to seek financial compensation from the U.S. government, even though the statute of limitations barred the claims by the time information about the contaminated water was discovered.

The litigation is currently being overseen by U.S. District Judges Richard E. Myers II, Terrence W. Boyle, Louise W. Flanagan and James C. Dever III, all from the Eastern District of North Carolina, who directed the parties early in the pretrial proceedings to provide regular status reports on Camp Lejeune settlement efforts, including information about individual and global resolutions, since it would take decades to resolve each claim at trial.

While the parties are working to determine if a global Camp Lejeune settlement program can be established, the Court is moving forward with a bellwether process, preparing several “tracks” of claims involving different categories of injuries for early trial dates, which are designed to help gauge how the Court may respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be repeated throughout the litigation.

While the outcome of these early bellwether trials will not have a binding impact on other claims in the litigation, they will be closely watched by lawyers involved in the cases, as the average amounts of any Camp Lejeune lawsuit payouts awarded may help the parties in global settlement negotiations for various types of injuries.