Lowe’s discontinues sale of paint strippers blamed in fatal accidents

WASHINGTON — Lowe’s, the home improvement retailer, announced Tuesday that it would no longer sell paint strippers that contain the chemicals methylene chloride and NMP, which have been blamed in dozens of accidental deaths.

The Barack Obama administration, in its final days, concluded that the two chemicals represented “unreasonable risks” and moved to ban them for use in paint strippers. But the Environmental Protection Agency has not enacted the ban.

For now, Lowe’s said it will voluntarily remove from its shelves 19 products that contain either of the chemicals, which go by such brand names as Klean Strip, Goof Off and Jasco, many of them made by W.M. Barr in Memphis.

The products will be removed by the end of the year, the company said.

“We care deeply about the health and safety of our customers, and great progress is being made in the development of safer and more effective alternatives,” said Mike McDermott, Lowe’s chief customer officer.

Lowe’s is the first major retailer to take such a step, which was praised by health groups and relatives of victims who have been pushing the EPA to move forward with the Obamaera proposed ban.

“Sadly the announcement is too late and I will never get my brother back,” said Brian Wynne, whose brother Drew died in October stripping paint off the floor of his coffee company in Charleston, S.C.

Drew Wynne, 31, bought the paint stripper at a Lowe’s store. He had been wearing a respirator and gloves but was overcome by fumes, his brother said. The death certificate identified “toxic fumes (paint thinner/methylene, chloride/ methanol) exposure” as the cause of death.

This month, the EPA announced that it was moving ahead on the proposal to ban methylene chloride.

Under the proposal, methylene chloride would still be allowed in commercial furniture refinishing — in settings where companies can more carefully ensure it is used safely.

The agency has not indicated its intentions regarding NMP, also known as N-Methylpyrrolidone, a solvent found in plastics, paints, inks, enamels, electronics, industrial and consumer cleaning products, and arts and crafts materials. Its use has been associated with miscarriages and low birth weights among women exposed to it.