Dichloromethane confirmed as readily biodegradable

The focus of the OECD Cooperative Chemicals AssessmentProgramme is to derive OECD-wide agreed hazard assessments ofchemicals. These are available to the public and can be used forrisk assessment and other activities within national or regionalprogrammes.

The substance dichloromethane was assessed under thisprogramme by the OECD Member States end of last year. The availablestudies demonstrate that dichloromethane is rapidly biodegradable.However, these studies were judged insufficient by OECD to allowclassification as readily biodegradable due to the volatility ofthe substance and lack of a suitable OECD guideline test (OECD301). A recently performed Closed Bottle test (OECD 301 D)with dichloromethane confirmed that this substance is rapidly andreadily biodegradable.

The members of the European Chlorinated SolventAssociation (ECSA) welcomed the test results which will lead to anupdate of both the REACH and the OECD assessment ofdichloromethane.