Regulatory Information
Laws & Regulations
Like all substances used in industry, ClO2 is subject to a number of health, safety, and environmental laws and regulations. Because ClO2 is used to control microorganisms that are harmful to the public's health, the most important of these laws is the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
Before a chemical can be used to control dangerous microbial pests, FIFRA requires that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) first evaluate that substance carefully to make sure it meets Federal safety and efficacy standards and does not pose any unreasonable risk to the environment. Once the USEPA determines that a chemical does satisfy all required safety and efficacy criteria for a particular type of pesticidal use, it grants a "registration" (i.e. a license) to the product's manufacturer that authorizes that use of the chemical under certain well-defined circumstances. The precise uses for which a chemical has been approved under FIFRA are specified on the label of product containers, along with accompanying instructions for safe handling, application, storage, and disposal of the material.
After a product has been approved for one type of pesticidal use, the manufacturer can then petition USEPA to approve additional uses of the same chemical by providing appropriate supplemental safety and efficacy data for the newly contemplated use. In instances where the product need arises so quickly that the normal petition and approval process cannot be followed, USEPA also has authority to approve provisional use of the chemical through issuance of either a "Crisis Exemption" or "Public Health Exemption." Crisis Exemptions were issued for both liquid and gaseous ClO2 following the Bacillus anthracis (i.e. anthrax) attacks of September and October of 2001 to allow Sabre to use this chemical in restoring numerous contaminated facilities, including the Hart Senate Office Building, Curseen-Morris Postal Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC), Trenton Postal P&DC, and the American Media Building.
Because ClO2 is a "free radical" molecule that decays rapidly on its own and does not persist in the environment for any length of time, the USEPA has chosen to control its use through registration of products that contain its essential precursor chemical, sodium chlorite, rather than through registration of ClO2 itself. Sabre's ClO2 precursor material, SABRECHLOR 25, is fully registered under FIFRA for a variety of antimicrobial uses including the following:
- Drinking water disinfection
- Wastewater disinfection
- Food processing water microbial control
- Vegetable and fruit wash water sanitization
- Poultry processing water sanitization
- Food contact surface sanitization
- Cooling tower treatment
- Oilfield injection water treatment
- Paper mill whitewater system treatment
In addition to FIFRA requirements, ClO2 is also regulated on a limited basis under other USEPA rules, as well as under standards promulgated by the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Specifically, projects involving ClO2 use can potentially become subject to the OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard and USEPA Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule if they are of sufficient size and scope. The amount of ClO2 that will trigger applicability of the PSM Standard and RMP Rule is 1,000 pounds of material in process or storage in one location at a single point in time. Typically, the PSM Standard and RMP Rule only apply to ClO2 in the context of pulp and paper mills where large amounts of ClO2 are used in the bleaching process. Sabre has, however, conducted fumigation projects that have exceeded this threshold, thereby triggering coverage of these two regulations. A facility can also become subject to Release Inventory Reporting under Section 313 of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) if they process more than 25,000 pounds of ClO2 in a given year or otherwise use more than 10,000 pounds in a year.
Apart from these identified requirements, ClO2 (or sodium chlorite) is not regulated to any significant degree by either USEPA or OSHA. For example, ClO2 is not classified as a "hazardous waste" under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) nor is it classified as a "hazardous substance" under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Similarly, ClO2 is not subject to Emergency Planning Notification, Emergency Release Notification, or Hazardous Chemical Inventory Reporting under Sections 302, 304, or 311/312 of SARA, respectively.
USEPA and OSHA have each developed human exposure standards for ClO2 in their respective areas of expertise. USEPA has issued drinking water standards for both ClO2 and chlorite, the principal breakdown product of ClO2, due to its widespread use in drinking water disinfection. The Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level for ClO2 is 0.8 ppm and the Maximum Contaminant Level for chlorite ion is 1.0 ppm. OSHA has passed a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for ClO2 inhalation exposures in the workplace. The OSHA PEL for ClO2 is an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) exposure level of 0.1 ppmv. The TWA PEL level represents the airborne concentration of ClO2 to which it is believed nearly all healthy adult workers may be repeatedly exposed, day after day, over a working lifetime, without experiencing any adverse health effects.