Three decades of death
Methylene chloride, a common ingredient in products such as paint strippers, can kill when its fumes build up in an enclosed area. The Center for Public Integrity, combing through workplace death investigations, coroners' reports and poison control center reports, found 56 deaths since 1980 that authorities linked to unintentional overexposure to the chemical. The number is likely an undercount because there is no single tally of such deaths. Unless otherwise noted, the key source of information is the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration or state workplace-safety agencies.
Fatal incidents involving methylene chloride
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Unnamed bathtub refinisher
Cleveland, Ohio
Died while stripping a residential bathtub for a job assignment; OSHA is still investigating but suspects methylene chloride exposure.
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Jeffrey Lewis Jr., 20
New York, New York
Died while helping his father refinish a hotel bathtub for a job assignment while the father worked in another room; the paint stripper was 88 percent methylene chloride.
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Michael Richartz, 50
Portland, Oregon
Died in a hospital after being overcome while stripping a bathtub for a job assignment.
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Unnamed consumer, 80
Location not reported
Died from unintentional inhalation of methylene chloride, according to an American Association of Poison Control Centers report.
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Bernardo Martinez, 37
Wheeling, Illinois
Died after being overcome by methylene chloride in a storage tank, roughly a minute after entering, and falling from the tank's ladder.
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Traci C. Sheibal, 37
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Died while stripping paint from an apartment bathtub for a job assignment; the mother of four used a product that was 80 to 90 percent methylene chloride.
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Roberto Ramirez Magdariaga, 62
Fullerton, California
Died while stripping paint from the inside of a paint-mixing tank; a co-worker who tried to rescue him had to be resuscitated and was hospitalized for four days.
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Levi Weppler, 30
Toledo, Ohio
Died while stripping a bathtub for a job assignment.
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Robert Michael "Mike" Beall, 49
Clarkston, Georgia
Died while stripping an apartment bathtub for a job assignment.
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Unnamed bathtub refinisher, 41
Michigan
Died while using a paint stripper on a bathtub for a job assignment, according to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report.
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Unnamed bathtub refinisher, 31
Brooklyn, New York
Died while using a paint stripper on a bathtub for a job assignment.
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Steve Duarte, 24
Alhambra, California
Died while stripping paint from a church's baptismal font, one designed like a sunken tub; the paint stripper was 70 to 85 percent methylene chloride.
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James Philip Smith, 52
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Died while stripping a bathtub for a job assignment that exposed him to methylene chloride vapors hundreds of times above the federal limit, according to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report. He was co-owner of a bathtub-refinishing company.
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Crystal Bowen, 27
Greenwood, Indiana
Died while stripping a bathtub for a job assignment, using a product that was 75-100 percent methylene chloride.
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Jesus Colorado, 23
Silver Spring, Maryland
Died while stripping an apartment bathtub for a job assignment; found face down on the bathroom floor after applying the paint stripper.
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Luis Esteban Martinez, 28
Sarasota, Florida
Died while replacing carpet in the cabin of a boat with an adhesive containing methylene chloride.
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Thomas Palmer, 57
Sterling Heights, Michigan
Died while stripping a bathtub for a job assignment; the medical examiner named methylene chloride a contributing factor to the cause of death, heart disease, according to OSHA.
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Unnamed bathtub refinisher, 36
Callahan, Florida
Died while stripping a bathtub for a job assignment after using a pint of a paint stripper that was 80 to 85 percent methylene chloride.
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Unnamed bathtub refinisher, 43
Framingham, Massachusetts
Died in a hospital after being found unconscious over the bathtub he was stripping for a job assignment.
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Antonio Minichilli, 46
Worcester, Massachusetts
Died of a heart attack on the job after using a paint stripper earlier in the day; OSHA, which found methylene chloride levels above the allowable limit at the site, noted that the chemical can trigger a heart attack.
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Max Leiss, 52
Shaumburg, Illinois
Died while stripping bathroom walls at a job site using a methylene chloride paint stripper.
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Unnamed bathtub refinisher, 29
Texas
Died while working on a bathtub in a single-family house; his blood tested positive for methylene chloride exposure, according to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report.
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Anthony Kaniewski Jr., 31
Newtown, Pennsylvania
Died while stripping paint from shutters; he was discovered face down in the tank of methylene chloride he'd been working over.
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Unnamed bathtub refinisher, 39
New York, New York
Died while stripping and reglazing a bathtub for a job assignment in an apartment; he was overcome by the vapors from a paint stripper that was at least 70 percent methylene chloride.
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Johnathan Welch, 18
Red Bank, Tennessee
Died at a hospital after being overcome while stripping furniture, one week before he would have started college.
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Unnamed manufacturing employee
Baltimore, Maryland
Died while cleaning a 250-gallon reactor vessel with methylene chloride; OSHA noted that the coroner found "extremely high levels" of the chemical in his body.
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Brad Williams, 21
Kansas City, Missouri
Died alongside a co-worker; they were stripping the floor of a squash court with 14 gallons of methylene chloride.
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Marvin Snook, 29
Kansas City, Missouri
Died alongside a co-worker; they were stripping the floor of a squash court with 14 gallons of methylene chloride.
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Unnamed furniture-stripping employee
Wheat Ridge, Colorado
Died at a hospital after he was overcome while stripping furniture with methylene chloride.
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Unnamed co-owner of a local company
Lithonia, Georgia
Died while repairing a plastic-coated metal rack; he was found inside the tank of methylene chloride the company used to strip rack coatings.
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Unnamed furniture-stripping employee
Somers, Connecticut
Died while stripping the finish from church pews; he slumped into the dip tank after complaining that the methylene chloride was making him dizzy.
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Julette "Julie" Jenkins, 28
Columbus, Ohio
Died in her house after stripping furniture in her attic; coroner ruled that methylene chloride was the cause.
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Robert E. Umberger Jr, 21
Newport News, Virginia
Died while stripping paint from metal registers.
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Walter Irby Jr., 34
Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
Died while removing paint from a tote bin with paint stripper.
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Unnamed wife of industrial-supply firm owner
Cicero, Illinois
Died while cleaning an ink vat with paint stripper and decal remover that contained methylene chloride; she was the wife of the firm's owner, not an employee.
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Unnamed tank maintenance employee
Cleveland, Ohio
Died while working on a portable tank that had just been cleaned with methylene chloride.
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Randy White, 31
Chicago, Illinois
Died alongside a co-worker while stripping a restroom floor in a federal building with methylene chloride.
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Norman Brewer, 32
Chicago, Illinois
Died alongside a co-worker while stripping a restroom floor in a federal building with methylene chloride.
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Unnamed maintenance employee
Jessup, Maryland
Died while cleaning a tanker trailer with methylene chloride; he was overcome in roughly five minutes.
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Unnamed boat company employee
Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
Died while replacing carpet in a boat with a methylene chloride product.
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Unnamed employee of a tank-truck carrier
Angleton, Texas
Died five days after collapsing while using methylene chloride to clean the interior of a tank truck.
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Unnamed chemical-plant employee
San Antonio, Texas
Died while checking the fluid level of a sump hole that contained methylene chloride and other substances from the chemical plant's drains; he was found lying in the fluid.
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Unnamed furniture-stripping employee, 19
Aurora, Colorado
Died while working over a furniture-stripping tank, two hours into his first day on the job.
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Luther Howard
Laurens, South Carolina
Died after working with a paint stripper in the basement of a water-pumping station; he was one of three people who succumbed in the incident.
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Elliot T. Brown, 42
Laurens, South Carolina
Died while checking on a co-worker. He was one of three people who succumbed after exposure to paint stripper in the basement of a water-pumping station.
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Ron Gilmer, 32
Laurens, South Carolina
Died after exposure to paint stripper in the basement of a water-pumping station, one of three to succumb; Gilmer, an electrician, had stepped in to investigate after hearing an unusual noise.
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Richard Enfinger, 18
Charlotte, North Carolina
Died alongside a co-worker; they were quickly overcome after applying methylene chloride to the paint on the inside of a tanker trailer compartment.
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Clyde Hendershot, 23
Charlotte, North Carolina
Died alongside a co-worker; they were quickly overcome after applying methylene chloride to the paint on the inside of a tanker trailer compartment.
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Unnamed furniture-stripping employee
Erie, Pennsylvania
Died while stripping wooden furniture over a dip tank; OSHA said he "apparently lost consciousness and slumped, head first, into the tank."
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Unnamed employee of tank-truck carrier
Newbury, Ohio
Died while cleaning the trailer of a truck using methylene chloride.
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David Jones
Morton Grove, Illinois
Died after entering a degreaser in a pit to drain the methylene chloride inside and clean up.
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Unnamed boat company employee
Largo, Florida
Died while gluing carpet in a boat, using a product with methylene chloride.
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Unnamed manufacturing-firm worker
Springfield, Ohio
Died in an accident involving methylene chloride at a coatings manufacturing company.
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Unnamed coatings-company worker
Maryland Heights, Missouri
Died in an accident involving methylene chloride at a plastics and coatings company.
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Jonathan Smith
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Died at a hospital after scraping varnish off the inside of a 500-gallon tank; methylene chloride paint stripper had been applied to it in previous days, and Smith was overcome by the fumes.
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John F. Rogers, 20
East Syracuse, New York
Died in an accident involving methylene chloride at a finish-removal company.
Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration, state workplace-safety agencies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, county coroners, American Association of Poison Control Centers, lawsuits and newspaper reports.