August 19, 2024—Following up on its successful lawsuit, ALERT Project and the Government Accountability Project petitioned EPA to ban the two deadly oil dispersants, Corexit 9527A and 9500A, from use in oil spill response effective immediately.

This is the first test of the truth-in-reporting rule that was secured when a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered the EPA to update its decades-old regulations on the use of toxic chemical dispersants in oil spill responses and to take into account current science, including, specifically, “new or relevant information not previously considered concerning the impacts or potential impacts of the product to human health or the environment.”

In response to the new rules, the Corexit dispersant Manufacturer stopped making and selling these Corexit dispersants, effective November 2022, and it stopped technical support for registration or re-registration effective July 1, 2023, two days after the new rules were published in the Federal Register. However, this is NOT the end of Corexit use in the United States, as, also under the new rules, old products may be used until December 12, 2025, when the new Product Schedule is published.

To prevent use of existing stockpiles of these Corexit dispersants, currently available for use in every coastal state, we requested EPA to remove Corexit 9500A and 9527A immediately, based on less-than-truthful statements made by the Manufacturer in its last available Safety Data Sheets. The 2019 Safety Data Sheets for Corexit 9527A and 9500A failed to disclose the human experience from dispersant exposure that is now largely defined by post-BP disaster science.

In our petition, we compiled key studies showing that these Corexit dispersants are:

• potent respiratory and skin sensitizers that cause chronic breathing difficulties and reoccurring skin rashes and other damage;
• potent carcinogens that trigger multiple cancer pathways;
• potent neurotoxins that cause brain damage such as central sensitization––hypersensitivities to smells, sounds, and light, often associated with migraines;
• potent teratogens that disrupt development of fetuses, and (therefore)
• human reproductive hazards that interfere with reproduction in humans or adversely affect the development of their offspring before or after birth.

These dispersants also cause specific target organ toxicity damage to:

• the blood (hematological) system, such as cancers of the blood,
• the respiratory system, such as disease conditions of asthma, reactive airway disease, chemical pneumonia, among others,
• the cardiovascular systems, such as increased risk and incidence of coronary heart disease,
• the peripheral nervous system, such as numbness and pain in the hands and/or feet, and
• the central nervous system, such as affecting memory, emotions, and behavior.

Information about harm a product may cause is required for product registration as part of the United Nation’s Globally Harmonized System for hazard communication, but this system does not currently have truth-in-reporting guidelines. This means the same information—or misinformation—is available for any country that is considering use of these dispersants.

The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers is pursuing markets in other countries to use up existing stockpiles of these Corexit dispersants. ALERT is advocating that the United Nations adopt similar truth-in-reporting rules as in the United States and remove discontinued products immediately from the Globally Harmonized System.

To prevent use of existing stockpiles in the United States and globally, please JOIN THE EXIT COREXIT CAMPAIGN and take action.