EPA Extends Comment Period on Risk Management Rule for Pigment Violet 29

EPA has extended the deadline for the agency to receive comments on its recently proposed rule regulating C.I. Pigment Violet 29 (PV29). Originally due Feb. 28, comments must now be submitted on or before April 29.

PV29 has industrial, commercial, and consumer applications. It is used as an intermediate to create or adjust color in other perylene pigments, in paints and coatings used by the automobile industry, in plastic and rubber products in cars and industrial carpets, in merchant ink, and in watercolors and acrylic paints for consumers.

EPA finalized a risk evaluation of PV29 in 2021 that determined it presents risks of lung toxicity. The proposed rule would require respiratory protection for workers and other potentially exposed persons where PV29 is present as a dry powder. The respirators must have a minimum assigned protection factor of 50. The rule also contains requirements for employers to implement a cleaning plan for equipment and areas where PV29 has been manufactured, processed, used, or disposed of, with cleaning conducted within 24 hours.

In addition to these proposed regulatory actions, EPA is required by the Toxic Substances Control Act to present a primary alternative regulatory action, which in the case of PV29 is engineering controls. Under this alternative, workplace air monitoring would be required every three months when PV29 is manufactured or in use.

EPA invites comments on both the proposed and primary alternative regulatory actions by April 29. For more information, read the proposed rule and the notice extending the comment period in the Federal Register. More information about risk management for PV29 is available from the EPA website.