EPA Releases Long-Awaited Final Health Assessment for PCE

On January 10, 2012, EPA posted the long-awaited final health assessment for tetrachoroethylene - also know as perchloroethylene (PCE) - to EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. PCE is a common chemical solvent and ubiquitous groundwater contaminant. The final health assessment concludes that PCE is a "likely human carcinogen". The document also provides toxicity values that will be used in revising the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for drinking water, establishing new cleanup levels at sites where PCE is a contaminant, and evaluating whether to propose additional limits on the emission of PCE in the atmosphere.