U.S. regulators said that D4, a chemical used to make silicone goods from solar panels to cosmetics, may harm women’s fertility and damage aquatic and land animals.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Sept. 17 draft risk evaluation concluded that D4—formally known as octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane—presents “unreasonable” risks to human health in almost two dozen uses and to the environment in seven cases. The agency found no such risk in 37 other applications.
EPA said the human health concerns are driven mainly by worker exposures in 23 uses, such as manufacturing D4, processing it into adhesives and sealants, and applying D4-containing paints and coatings in industrial and commercial settings….