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more_legal_areas vinyl-chloridePolyvinyl chloride is universally used despite its severe human health hazards. Said to be cheap, convenient, safe and maintenance free, polyvinyl chloride is found in our homes and communities. Every day, people encounter polyvinyl chloride in a wide range of products, including children’s toys, packaging and lawn furniture, as well as water, sewer pipes, medical equipment and building materials.
Vinyl chloride is the building block polyvinyl chloride resin is made from. The National Toxicology Program finds it so dangerous that it has classified it as “known to be a human carcinogen.” Other U.S. and international agencies have also cited the dangers of vinyl chloride. Because polyvinyl chloride continues to present serious hazardous health effects to both humans and the environment over the course of its life cycle, various groups have been targeting large corporations to phase it out of their productions.
Many studies have documented links between working in vinyl chloride production facilities and the increased risk of developing diseases like angiosarcoma of the liver, a rare form of liver cancer. The production of both vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride is associated to an increased risk of certain non-cancer disorders in workers.
Although the use of polyvinyl chloride has supposed benefits over alternatives, many experts have questioned what the real advantage is. In a December 2003 Tufts University report, researchers concluded a polyvinyl chloride phase out is both achievable and affordable, claiming advantages of polyvinyl chloride are “overstated.” Its use is a little cheaper than the alternatives in some areas, according to the study, but in other areas polyvinyl chloride offers no type of cost-saving bargain.
In the 1990s, sales of polyvinyl chloride grew rapidly. Reaching 14.4 billion pounds in the U.S. and Canada in 2002, the breakdown is equivalent to 46 pounds for every person in the two countries. According to 2002 figures on polyvinyl chloride consumption in the U.S. and Canada, more than two-thirds of its use is found in pipes, siding, windows, doors and profiles (gutters, fences, decks, etc.).
Vinyl chloride has been classified as a human carcinogen, and the production of polyvinyl chloride has exposed workers and surrounding communities to its dangers. Additives mixed with polyvinyl chloride resins, like stabilizers, plasticizers and fillers, can leach out of a polyvinyl product during its use and create public health hazards. Recently, consumers were warned about the use of polyvinyl chloride found in plastics that food and drinks are packaged in because the ingestion of DEHA, a hormone-disrupting toxin, could leach into food and put consumers at risk for serious effects. The development of reproductive problems in children is just one danger of exposure.
In the U.S., action has been taken by some environmental and consumer safety groups to get manufacturers to go polyvinyl chloride free. In most applications, there are readily available and cost-effective alternatives to polyvinyl chloride, but until a phase out occurs, consumers can check labels or call the manufacturers if they would like to avoid products containing polyvinyl chloride.
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