• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families

A national effort to protect families from toxic chemicals.

  • Get Involved
  • Our Work
    • News
    • Public Policy
    • Mind the Store
    • Successes
  • Get the Facts
  • About
  • Donate

U.S. deaths from methylene chloride

At least 64 people have died from acute exposure to methylene chloride since 1980

This map shows the location of fatalities linked to methylene chloride exposure in the United States since 1980. To view the description of the circumstances surrounding the deaths, click on a city and state below. Names and ages of victims are provided as available. This tally likely underestimates the number of people killed since fatalities may not have been reported or the death may have been mistakenly attributed to a cause other than methylene chloride exposure. Exposure to methylene chloride also leads to serious health concerns including cancer, nervous system effects, and liver, reproductive, and kidney toxicity.

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. March 2018

Other known deaths* for which records don’t state a geographic location:**

  • In 2016: a 48-year-old male died from asphyxiation after exposure to DCM fumes from the product he used to seal shower tiles in a bathroom
  • In 2015: a 56-year-old male worker died after unintentional acute inhalation and ingestion of methylene chloride
  • In 2013: an 80-year-old male consumer died after unintentional acute inhalation of methylene chloride
  • In 2007: a 45-year-old male died from asphyxiation after inhaling methylene chloride fumes from a paint remover in a bathroom renovation
  • In 2002: a 64-year-old male fell into a tank of paint remover containing methylene chloride at work and died of cardiac arrest and respiratory toxicity

* There are likely many more deaths from methylene chloride that we don’t know about since this information isn’t collected in any central database.

**Sources: 2017 CPSC staff memorandum, PDF page 58; 2015 and 2013 Annual Reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers

For more information, see our methylene chloride fact sheet.

Share
Tweet

Primary Sidebar

person stripping paint

Tell EPA: Ban this deadly chemical from the workplace

Take Action

Subscribe to Posts

Get our latest posts delivered to your inbox.

Get the Facts

These chemicals are linked to serious environmental and health problems. Check out our fact sheets, which draw from the leading peer-reviewed science.

  • Bisphenol A (BPA) & Bisphenol S (BPS)
  • Formaldehyde
  • Methylene chloride
  • Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic Chemicals (PBTs)
  • PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)
  • Phthalates
  • Toxic flame retardants
Other Chemicals »

Footer

Contact Us

200 Massachusetts Ave NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20001
Email

Search

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

© 2021 Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families — All rights reserved.

  • About Us
  • Privacy policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Feed