D.C. Court Denies Challenge to Styrene Listing in HHS Report on Carcinogens

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal court has upheld a decision by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to identify styrene as “reasonably anticipated to cause cancer in humans,” a label opposed by Dart Container Corp. and other industry interests, but supported by intervening environmental groups and a union of steel and rubber industry workers.

Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia awarded summary judgment to HHS May 15, rejecting a challenge by Dart and the Styrene Information and Research Center Inc. to the agency’s 2011 inclusion of styrene in its Twelfth Report …