Have I learned this too late

Note - Links in this post are for information only and do not imply endorsement.

Sometimes in life you trust too much or don't dig enough.  That is my issue with chemicals we use every day.  I trust that the regulations are studied and enforced in a way that protects people and lets them make the decisions they need to protect themselves.

That is until I listened to a radio broadcast on TCE, a chemical that has been linked to fetal heart defects, and other diseases such as cancer.

TCE (tetrathloroethylene) is a chemical that is used in cleaning and degreasing.   It is at the center of the Camp Lejeune tragedy, where our military families were exposed to toxic drinking water from the 50's through the early 80's.  But it is not just here that there was a problem.  Since this chemical was used by dry cleaners, even in the town of Torrington, where I live, many wells were closed up and changed over to city water due to ground contamination (not just by TCE) from dry cleaning establishments.

How does it affect me and my friends?  I was/am an auto mechanic and racing mechanic.  I use brake cleaning chemicals, some of which might contain TCE or a derivative of this, perthloroethylene.  Now this is found in Chlorinated brake cleaner, which has been used for many years.  Recently, Non-Chlorinated brake cleaner has come on the market.  This does not have TCE in it, in fact Chlorinated brake cleaner is banned for sale in California.  My mistake was believing the only change in the product was the propellant, and not the chemicals itself.

When I started as a mechanic, back in the 70's, brake cleaner was not heard of.  We would wash down brake parts with Safety-Kleen solvent or even gasoline (not that that is probably any better as it had lead in it at the time....)  Brake cleaner first came out in gallon cans that we loaded into pressurized spray bottles; only after I had left the trade full time did the spray cans come into being.

It was a miracle product, where before you had to take something apart and clean it in a tank, now you just hit it with some brake cleaner and you were done.  There was no training or instruction besides the small print on the cans - and we know how good we are about reading those.

The other thing about Chlorinated brake cleaner is that when heated past 315 degrees Celsius (about 600 F)  it can produce a deadly gas - Phosgen - which can seriously hurt or kill you.  Think of the times you were heating a bolt and then hit it with a chemical, like a brake cleaner or something like WD-40, if it was red hot then it was definitely hotter that that.

Now, it is proven that Chlorinated brake cleaner performs better that Non-Chlorinated.  The question is how much better and is the difference worth your health?  That is for you to decide.  For most people, if they use the brake cleaner is a well ventilated area, and use proper protection like gloves, then you have minimized the risk.  However, that goes for ANY chemical that is man made.

For those who are using this product in a commercial setting I urge you to look at the information and either change what you are using or put in place safeguards and train for you and your employees.  For the hobbyist the same advise holds.

Now the previous administration was about to strictly regulate this chemical as California has done.  The current administration is rolling back regulations, specifically TCE.

Many chemicals have improved our lives, and to not balance the benefits vs the side effects would be foolish.  But we should demand transparency from our government and the manufacturers of these chemicals.

ChrisZ