Man dies from chemical found in paint strippers

PITTSBURGH — Joshua Atkins made the most of every moment.

"He rock climbed. He did snowboarding. He did skateboarding," his mother Lauren said. "His passion in life was BMX biking."

But Joshua's passion cost him his life. Last February, Lauren found Joshua dead inside her South Connellsville home after he had used a chemical paint stripper on his bicycle.

"I opened the door, and I found him slumped over," she said. "He had already passed away."

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An autopsy confirmed Joshua died from inhaling methylene chloride, a chemical linked to dozens of other deaths across the United States.

In January, Lauren joined a group of mothers in suing the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming it didn't pull the dangerous chemical from stores in time to save her son.

"This chemical should not be on the market at all," Lauren said. "But, when the EPA itself deems it an unreasonable risk, and yet, they've still not moved to take this off the market, something has to be done."

The EPA had proposed banning paint thinners containing methylene chloride two years ago under President Barack Obama, but 11 Investigates found out those rules have still not been implemented.

"If the EPA would have just done what they should have done, none of this would have happened," she said.

Lauren has since taken matters into her own hands, partnering with the nonprofit Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families to get major retailers to voluntarily recall methylene chloride paint thinners.

In Pittsburgh, Sherwin Williams has pulled the products from its shelves, Lowe's is flagging them at the register and Home Depot has replaced some of its paint thinners with formulas free of methylene chloride.

But some local stores are still selling products with methylene chloride, including Ace Hardware.

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Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families recently gave the company an F on its retailer report card and started an online petition to get Ace Hardware to remove methylene chloride products from its stores. In a statement to Channel 11, Ace Hardware said it has already started the process of purging its distribution network and would no longer sell methylene chloride products by the end of July.

Lauren Atkins said she's made it her mission to save lives knowing her son would have done the same.

"Whether it was a stranger or friend," Lauren said, "he was always about helping people and this is part of his legacy too because, in a way, he's still helping people."

A spokesperson said the EPA sent a final rule on the methylene chloride ban for review in December. There's no timeline on when that ban could take effect.

Cox Media Group