Vinyl Chloride

What is Vinyl Chloride?

Vinyl chloride (C.A.S. 75-01-4) is a colorless, flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor. Its odor threshold (the level at which most people can smell it and be warned of its presence) probably exceeds 4,000 ppm. This is in excess of every legal standard that has ever been applied to VCM exposure and is 4,000 times higher than the current OSHA PEL of 1 ppm. If a person smells VCM, that person has been grossly overexposed to the substance.

Where is Vinyl Chloride found?

Vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) is the parent compound of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plastic resin used in numerous consumer and industrial products, including containers, beverage containers, food storage containers, wrapping film, battery cell separators, refrigerant gas, electrical insulation, water distribution systems such as drain pipes and hoses, flooring, windows, phonograph records, video discs, irrigation systems, credit cards, latex paints and vinyl siding for homes. Vinyl chloride monomer is also used as a copolymer in various resins used as plastic food wrap, for example. Though most vinyl chloride monomer is used industrially to make polyvinyl chloride products, historically vinyl chloride monomer was used as a component of aerosol propellants for women’s hair spray, aerosolized pesticides and some medical applications.

Although PVC is certainly a distinct product from VCM, PVC is manufactured using VCM and PVC resins, and PVC resins all contain some degree of VCM. Indeed, as a general rule, workers in PVC plants sustain even higher exposure to VCM than workers engaged in the direct manufacturer of VCM itself. Vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers are used extensively to produce vinyl asbestos floor tiles. Vinyl chloride also liquefies in a freezing mixture, and polymerizes in light, air, or heat unless stabilized by inhibitors such as phenol. Technical grade vinyl chloride is commercially supplied as a 99.9% pure liquid under pressure, but may also be found in EDC plants, methyl chloroform plants, and most importantly in PVC processing and fabricating plants. Residual VCM may be found in PVC and PVC resins that are not recognized as containing dangerous levels of VCM.

Other names for Vinyl Chloride

Synonyms for vinyl chloride are chloroethene, chloroethylene, chlorethylene, ethylene monochloride, monochloroethene, monochloroethylene, VC, and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM).

What health effects may be caused by exposure to Vinyl Chloride?

Vinyl chloride is a carcinogen, according to the Sixth Annual Report on Carcinogens, published by the National Toxicology Program. It is also listed as a carcinogen in EPA’s national Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Although evidence of the carcinogenic effect of vinyl chloride in humans has come from groups occupationally exposed to high doses of vinyl chloride, there is no evidence that there is an exposure level below which no increased risk of cancer would occur in humans. And while workers in the chemical and plastics industries have the highest exposures to vinyl chloride monomer, a large population of workers involved in the fabrication of polyvinyl chloride products (children’s toys, shower curtains, etc.) have also had exposure to vinyl chloride monomer.

Exposure to vinyl chloride has been shown to cause liver, brain, lung cancer and lymphatic and hematopoietic malignancies (such as lymphoma and leukemia) in multiple epidemiologic studies. Case reports in epidemiology have shown increased incidences of liver angiosarcomas and hemangiomas, lung angiosarcomas and adenocarcinomas, brain angiosarcomas, other lymphomas, and lymphopoietic system tumors in humans occupationally exposed to vinyl chloride.

Vinyl chloride may also damage the developing fetus. An excess of spontaneous abortions has been reported among workers and spouses of workers who had been exposed to vinyl chloride. Increased rates of birth defects have been reported in areas where vinyl chloride processing plants are located.

Other long-term effects of exposure to vinyl chloride include a pseudo-scleroderma (usually manifested as a skin disease), which causes the skin to become smooth and tight; acro-osteolysis, which causes the bones of the fingers to erode; and Raynauds syndrome, which damages the blood vessels in the extremities, resulting in pain and coldness.

Immediate effects of exposure to Vinyl Chloride

If vinyl chloride is ingested, inhaled, or brought into contact with skin, it irritates the eyes, skin, and upper respiratory system, and causes drowsiness, dizziness, and lightheadedness. High levels of exposure can cause headaches, stomach ulcers, skin allergies, nausea, weakness, unconsciousness, and sometimes death. Contact with liquid vinyl chloride can cause frostbite.

Where is Vinyl Chloride produced?

Vinyl chloride monomer is presently produced at 12 locations in the United States:

» Westlake, Calvert City, KY
» Borden, Geismar, LA
» Condea Vista, Lake Charles, LA
» Dow, Plaquemine, LA
» PHH Monomers, Lake Charles, LA
» Dow, Freeport, TX
» Formosa, Point Comfort, TX
» Geon, LaPorte, TX
» OxyChem, Deer Park, TX
» OxyMar, Ingleside, TX

Historically, vinyl chloride monomer and/or polyvinyl chloride have been produced at facilities in the following US cities. Significant vinyl chloride exposure may also occur at the tens of thousands of PVC processing and fabrication plants scattered across the United States, including:

» Demopolis, AL
» Long Beach, CA
» Pensacola-Pace, FL
» Calvert City, KY
» Henry, IL
» Merodosia, IL
» Louisville, KY
» Baton Rouge, LA
» Lake Charles, LA
» Plaquemine, LA
» Assonet, MA
» Leominster, MA
» New Bedford, MA
» Springfield-Indian Orchard, MA
» Midland, MI
» Flemington, NJ
» Pedricktown, NJ
» Brooklyn, NY
» Hicksville, NY
» Akron, OH
» Avon Lake, OH
» Painesville, OH
» Pottstown, PA
» Deer Park, TX
» Houston, TX
» LaPorte, TX
» Pasadena, TX
» Texas City, TX
» South Charleston, WV
» Moundsville, WV
» Carson, CA
» Delaware City, DE
» Saugus-Santa Clarita, LA
» Compton, CA
» Illiopolis, IL
» Ringwood, IL
» Owensboro, KY
» Geismar, LA
» Norco, LA
» Westlake, LA
» Fitchbury, MA
» Hebronville, MA
» South Acton, MA
» Perryville, MD
» Aberdeen, MS
» Passaic, NJ
» South Kearny, NJ
» Bainbridge, NY
» Niagara Falls, NY
» Ashtabula, OH
» Huron, OH
» Oklahoma City, OK
» Cranston, RI
» Freeport, TX
» Ingleside, TX
» Oyster Creek, TX
» Point Comfort, TX
» Institute, WV
» Point Pleasant, WV
» Guayanilla, Puerto Rico

How is the production of Vinyl Chloride regulated?

As of 1974, the consumer Product Safety Commission, EPA and the FDA have all banned the use of vinyl chloride as an aerosol propellant. The Clean Air Act addresses vinyl chloride emissions from production and manufacturing facilities.

Under the Clean Water Act, EPA published a water quality criteria document addressing vinyl chloride for the protection of human health. EPA also regulates vinyl chloride as a hazardous constituent of waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA established a maximum contaminant level for vinyl chloride.

The FDA eliminated the use of vinyl chloride in drug products and proposed alerting food manufacturers to the need for monitoring packaging materials that may contain it.

OSHA has established permissible exposure limits for vinyl chloride, and regulates vinyl chloride under the Hazard Communication Standard and as a chemical hazard in laboratories.

Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, releases of more than 1 pound of vinyl chloride into the air, water, and land must be reported annually and entered into the national TRI. The three states in which the largest amounts of vinyl chloride were released in 1989 were Texas (236,685 pounds), Louisiana (175,040 pounds) and Delaware (174,637 pounds).