HWN Suggests

Vinyl Chloride

The harmful health effects of vinyl chloride have been known for decades, though industry has suppressed and misrepresented the health effects from PVC exposures for years. Industry experiments in laboratory animals, as early as the 1950’s, found evidence of harm but officials did not initially disclose the findings. PVC manufacturers also delayed release of study results showing that rodents exposed at levels much lower than the allowable workplace exposure limits developed liver sarcoma. And then the vinyl industry commissioned an epidemiologist to downplay the associated non-liver cancer risks of vinyl chloride, while evidence of links to brain cancer continued to mount and workers continued…

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  Ingredient Breakdown: Vinyl Chloride

Unfortunately, in today’s cosmetics, dangerous ingredients can be found lurking inside some of our favourite products. Tiny hidden particles that are harmful to us and you’d never know it — until now. As it does not occur naturally, Vinyl Chloride must be man-made and by far the most recognizable product containing vinyl chloride is Polyvinyl Chloride. Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC is used in plastics, plastic piping, cable/wire coatings, and some packaging materials.

 Massive chemical spill after train derailment in Ohio, toxic vinyl chloride and other carcinogens trigger fears of large environmental disaster

Some people are already calling it the largest environmental disaster in the USA in recent times. As per reports, the burning of vinyl chloride and other chemicals has released toxic hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air.

 Pro/Con: Vinyl is Lethal

Vinyl is the only plastic, and the only major building material, made from high volumes of chlorine – chlorine gas, that is. Thus there is an unfortunate domino effect tied to vinyl’s chlorine content (which in final products can exceed 50% by weight) that is not present in the life cycles of alternative materials.

Articles of Interest

Ohio Train Derailment: What is vinyl chloride?

Vinyl chloride is also called chloroethene, chloroethylene, and ethylene monochloride. What is vinyl chloride used for? Vinyl chloride is primarily used to make polyvinyl chloride, which Cancer.gov says is a hard resin used to make plastic products like pipes, packaging materials, wire and cable coatings. It is produced as a combustion product in tobacco smoke as well...

The health risks for Ohioans after derailment of train with toxic chemicals

According to the CDC, some vinyl chloride can dissolve in water, and it can migrate to groundwater or spread through the breakdown of other chemicals. Unlike some other chemicals, such as compounds known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, vinyl chloride is unlikely to build up in the plants or animals that people eat.

Vinyl chloride toxicity

Vinyl chloride toxicity (and polyvinyl chloride) may rarely result from occupational exposure, most notably manifesting as chronic liver disease and rare hepatic malignancies. However due to strict regulation of the industrial manufacturing and processing of vinyl chloride since the 1970s, significant exposure is now very unusual.

What Is Vinyl Chloride, The Chemical That Caused Ohio’s Immense Explosion?

Vinyl chloride is stored and transported under pressure to liquefy it. Although transportation devices are designed to be impact and heat-resistant, these measures failed in this case. On release, mono vinyl chloride forms a cloud with a density around twice that of air, keeping it low to the ground and hindering dispersal. It will explode at ordinary temperatures over a wide range of concentrations in air. When it burns, one of the products is hydrogen chloride, which can react with water vapor in the atmosphere to produce acid rain.

Resources

National Cancer Institute

Vinyl chloride exposure is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.

StatPearls

One-time acute exposures to VCM, causing mild symptoms such as dizziness and headaches, have not been proven to propagate long-term effects.