Environmental Leaders Deliver 5,869 Petition Signatures to EPA Calling for Vinyl Chloride Ban
Vinyl Chloride Designated a Human Carcinogen 50 Years Ago, Still in Children’s Toys, Drinking-Water Pipes via PVC Plastic
For Immediate Release: December 6, 2023
Contacts:
Melissa Valliant, Beyond Plastics — MelissaValliant@Bennington.edu, (410) 829-0726
Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics – JudithEnck@Bennington.edu, (518) 605-1770
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the environmental organizations Beyond Plastics and Moms Clean Air Force submitted 5,869 petition signatures to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calling for a ban on vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic chemical used to make PVC plastic.
This is in addition to the 27,570 signatures delivered to EPA with the same request in July 2023, bringing the total to 33,439 signatures urging action by the EPA.
“After half a century of knowing vinyl chloride causes cancer in humans, it’s time for the EPA to start the process of banning this harmful chemical that many of us are exposed to every day. No level of exposure to vinyl chloride is safe, and yet it’s in consumer packaging, the toys our children chew on, and the pipes that deliver drinking water,” said Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics president and former EPA regional administrator. “We lived without vinyl chloride once, and our everyday products can certainly be produced without it now.”
Over 99% of vinyl chloride is used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, and its risks extend beyond consumer product use. When the vinyl chloride in PVC burns, new toxic chemicals can be formed, including dioxins — the most toxic chemical known to science. As a result, PVC is considered a significant threat to the health of firefighters. Since 2002, almost two out of three firefighters who died in the line of duty died of cancer, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters. Dioxins also persist in the environment for long periods of time, entering the food chain via soil and water.
"On behalf of our more than 1.5 million members, we are asking the EPA to act on what scientists have long known to be true: Vinyl chloride is an enemy to public health. Vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen. It is used in everything from PVC water pipes to IV lines to food packaging, causing harm at every stage in the supply chain, from production to use to disposal. It can set off a dangerous cascade of health effects including liver cancers, brain and lung cancers, lymphoma and leukemia. Vinyl chloride even crosses the placental barrier, forcing countless children to be born ‘pre-polluted,’” said Cynthia Palmer, senior analyst for petrochemicals at Moms Clean Air Force. “This hazardous, flammable, and explosive chemical is manufactured largely in Black, Brown, and low-income communities, releasing toxic air pollution and putting these already overburdened neighborhoods at risk of chemical disasters. We are therefore calling on the EPA to prioritize vinyl chloride for risk evaluation and to begin the process of transitioning to safer materials, products, and processes.”
The danger of transporting vinyl chloride made headlines in February 2023, when train cars carrying the chemical derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. After officials purposefully set the vinyl chloride on fire, some East Palestine residents were forced to evacuate, many reported their families and pets becoming ill, and thousands of dead fish were found in local waterways.
“The Stockholm-like story of East Palestine, Ohio, marries a lovely, rural community to a greedy polluter in the midst of a preventable tragedy,” said Jess Conard, Appalachia director at Beyond Plastics. “Vinyl chloride is the slow, untimely burial box of my community. Resources here are few, corporate money is selective and time is running out for my town. Our only hope is to make sure this never happens again.”
The recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was a chilling example of the threat petrochemicals like vinyl chloride poses to public health, but this toxic chemical has been impacting human health for decades. The production of vinyl chloride specifically hurts low-income communities and communities of color in Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New, Jersey, Illinois, and Mississippi, where facilities that produce vinyl chloride exist.
"For almost half a century, vinyl chloride has been identified as a substance that can cause cancer in humans, yet there hasn’t been significant action taken to address this issue," said Hannah Fine, senior director of campaigns at Only One. "The recent East Palestine disaster vividly demonstrated the immediate dangers of vinyl chloride, and its lasting effects continue to impact the health of the community. It's high time for the EPA to enforce a ban on this widespread chemical to prevent further harm, and for East Palestine, Ohio, a Major Presidential Disaster Declaration is necessary to aid in the community's recovery."
Banning vinyl chloride has been discussed for more than 40 years — ever since it was designated a human carcinogen in 1974 — and some companies have already said they will eliminate this harmful chemical in their products. In January 2022, the U.S. Plastics Pact (a group of 100 major consumer companies, including Walmart, Target, Unilever, Keurig Dr Pepper, General Mills, and more) made a voluntary commitment to stop using polyvinyl chloride in their plastic packaging by 2025. However, it is still widely used in drinking-water pipes, building materials, packaging, children’s toys, and many consumer products.
“For years the dangers of vinyl chloride have been suspected, studied, and most of all, felt by communities across the country,” said Heather McTeer Toney, executive director of Beyond Petrochemicals. “As long as toxic chemicals like vinyl chloride continue to travel through towns and neighborhoods unabated, what happened in East Palestine could happen anywhere at any time. Thousands of people have asked EPA for this ban; the time to act is now.”
Vinyl chloride wouldn’t be the first hazardous chemicals used in plastic products to be banned. For example, phthalates — chemical additives that make PVC plastic more durable — have been restricted from children’s toys in the United States, the European Union, and many nations around the world.
"No community deserves to be a 'sacrifice zone,' suffering the health impacts of vinyl chloride production facilities' pollution around their homes, schools, and institutions," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus. "After 50 years of allowing this chemical to persist in our society, it's time for the EPA to begin the process of banning it."
Beyond Plastics urges people to watch the compelling new documentary, “Small Town Explosion: What Really Happened in East Palestine?” produced by The Years Project. The 21-minute film details the risks of vinyl chloride and the damage it has done to East Palestine, Ohio, and nearby communities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
To sign the petition urging the EPA to ban this toxic chemical and protect Americans, visit: https://www.beyondplastics.org/actions/ban-vinyl-chloride
To learn more about vinyl chloride, visit: https://www.beyondplastics.org/fact-sheets/vinyl-chloride
About Beyond Plastics
Launched in 2019, Beyond Plastics is a nationwide project that pairs the wisdom and experience of environmental policy experts with the energy and creativity of grassroots advocates to build a vibrant and effective movement to end plastic pollution. Using deep policy and advocacy expertise, Beyond Plastics is building a well-informed, effective movement seeking to achieve the institutional, economic, and societal changes needed to save our planet and ourselves, from the negative health, climate, and environmental impacts for the production, usage, and disposal of plastics.
###
