New Report: Vinyl Chloride Accidents Have Happened Once Every Five Days Since 2010
Impacted Communities and Environmentalists Call on the EPA to Protect the Public From the Cancer-Causing Chemical
For Immediate Release: March 26, 2024
Melissa Valliant, Beyond Plastics — melissavalliant@bennington.edu, (410) 829-0726
Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics – judithenck@bennington.edu, (518) 605-1770
Zahra Ahmad, Earthjustice — zahmad@earthjustice.org
A new report released by Beyond Plastics and Earthjustice details the significant extent to which people are exposed to vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen. Incidents in which vinyl chloride was illegally released into the environment or a workplace, often exposing people to this dangerous toxin, have occurred every five days since 2010, highlighting the harm companies pose to people and the environment due to lack of oversight.
The report, created by Material Research L3C for Beyond Plastics and Earthjustice, was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agency asked the public to share any information about vinyl chloride to inform the agency’s work. Vinyl chloride is a highly toxic chemical that the EPA is reviewing under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The EPA must designate vinyl chloride as a high-priority chemical under TSCA to start the regulatory process to eventually phase out vinyl chloride in the U.S. The agency is going to decide on the designation in December.
Companies expose people to vinyl chloride through every phase of its life cycle. People working at factories that make vinyl chloride, people transporting the chemical, and communities living in neighborhoods near factories or railroads are particularly at risk of experiencing a high-exposure incident. Such communities face a higher risk of vinyl chloride exposure, which causes cancer.
“The EPA has a solemn responsibility to protect all residents and workers from exposure to this toxic chemical, and we urge the Biden administration to not bow to the vinyl industry’s efforts to minimize vinyl chloride’s harms. The vinyl industry has one priority in mind, and it’s not the health and safety of the public; it’s companies’ financial bottom line,” said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and former EPA regional administrator. “Vinyl chloride was designated a human carcinogen 50 years ago, and even though substitute materials exist, it’s still being used in products we touch every day. We’ve waited long enough for federal action protecting our families, homes, and communities from vinyl chloride; it’s time for the EPA administrator Michael Regan to start the process of banning this highly toxic chemical.”
Among the report’s key findings:
The volume of vinyl chloride manufactured in the U.S. has tripled since 1974 to a record-high 18.6 billion pounds in 2021.
Since 2010, there have been at least 966 chemical incident reports involving vinyl chloride.
The rate of reported vinyl chloride incidents is one every 5.3 days.
Transportation of vinyl chloride is a dangerous practice that exposes a wide swath of the country to potential vinyl chloride catastrophes.
On at least 29 occasions since 1968, one or more rail cars carrying vinyl chloride have gone off the tracks. A dozen of these derailments led to the release of vinyl chloride from a total of 29 tank cars.
Hundreds of vinyl chloride tank cars are on the rails at any moment.
One of the primary uses of PVC plastic is PVC drinking-water pipes, and it is well-known that vinyl chloride may leach out of pipes into drinking water. The federal government does not require testing at the tap for vinyl chloride, but at least one high-quality study has found that levels of vinyl chloride in drinking water can reach measurable levels.
Vinyl chloride is particularly known to leach into drinking water during wildfires, which are becoming increasingly common.
Some children’s products made from PVC plastic, such as dresses marketed to 3-year-olds, contain 10,000 parts per million (1%) vinyl chloride.
Nearly 700 federal Superfund sites are contaminated with vinyl chloride.
Vinyl chloride wastewater discharge reporting from the industry is sporadic.
“Vinyl chloride incidents occurred at an alarming rate of one every five days in the past decade, posing a serious risk to public health,” said Earthjustice attorney Eve Gartner. “The report reveals the urgent need for policy intervention to protect communities — especially in Texas, Louisiana, and Kentucky — from the dangers of vinyl chloride exposure. The EPA should move forward expeditiously to safeguard the health of workers, communities, consumers, and the environment against the chemical’s devastating impacts.”
Vinyl chloride exposure gained recent attention when a train carrying the highly toxic chemical derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023. Officials burned the vinyl chloride, sending toxic gases throughout the community, and people living near the derailment reported experiencing health issues that continue to this day.
“We cannot allow vinyl chloride to remain under the guise of industry progress and consumer need,” said Jess Conard, Beyond Plastics Appalachia director and an East Palestine, Ohio, resident. “Now is the time to unveil the dangers of this chemical that have conspicuously wreaked havoc for decades on more communities than mine.”
The derailment in East Palestine exemplifies the threat of transporting petrochemicals like vinyl chloride, but exposure risks posed to people at every stage of the chemical’s life cycle is dangerous. The production of vinyl chloride especially hurts low-income communities and communities of color in Texas, Louisiana, and Kentucky, where facilities that produce vinyl chloride exist.
“After 35 years of talking with neighbors and workers at Formosa Plastics in Point Comfort, Texas, chief among the vinyl workers’ concern was vinyl chloride exposure and brain cancer,” said Diane Wilson, executive director of San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper. “For the citizens across the street, it was three decades of PVC powder blowing through their community and homes.”
Beyond Plastics and Earthjustice held a virtual news conference on March 26 to announce the report. Speakers included Earthjustice's Eve Gartner, Beyond Plastics' Judith Enck and Jess Conard (an East Palestine, Ohio, resident), San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper's Diane Wilson, and Material Research L3C's Jim Vallette.
Vinyl chloride wouldn’t be the first hazardous chemical used in plastic products to be banned. Eight phthalates — chemical additives that make PVC plastic more durable — have been restricted from children’s toys in the United States; several phthalates have been banned from use in cosmetics in the European Union and some American states.
To learn more about vinyl chloride, visit: https://www.beyondplastics.org/fact-sheets/vinyl-chloride
About Beyond Plastics and Earthjustice
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 and promote alternatives to plastics. 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.
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.
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