Vinyl Chloride Cancer

Brain cancer lung cancer and some cancers of the blood also may be connected with breathing vinyl chloride over long periods.

Vinyl chloride cancer. Studies of long term exposure in animals showed that cancer of the liver and mammary gland may increase at very low levels of vinyl chloride in the air 50 ppm. Learn about vinyl chloride which can raise the risk of a rare form of liver cancer as well as brain and lung cancers and leukemia and lymphoma. Vinyl chloride is classified as group 1 carcinogen by the iarc meaning it is seen as a definite cause of cancer in humans. Available human evidence is inadequate to determine if there is an increased risk of abortion or birth defects with exposure to vinyl chloride.

Another study done in 1970 reported that test animals exposed to 30 000 ppm of vinyl chloride developed cancerous tumors. One man from a plant in louisville kentucky developed angiosarcoma a rare cancer in his liver. Vinyl chloride is known to cause cancer in humans especially a rare type of liver cancer called angiosarcoma. Vinyl chloride is an organochloride with the formula h 2 c chcl that is also called vinyl chloride monomer vcm or chloroethene this colorless compound is an important industrial chemical chiefly used to produce the polymer polyvinyl chloride pvc.

Types of cancer. Vinyl chloride is used primarily to make pvc a substance used in products such as pipes. On average there is a 22 year delay between exposure and cancer. Later in the 1960s workers exposed to vinyl chloride presented different types of cancer.

Vinyl chloride is used to make polyvinyl chloride pvc. They are also 5 times more likely to develop liver cancer hepatocellular carcinoma. Vinyl chloride exposure is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer hepatic angiosarcoma as. In laboratory animals decreased fertility abortion and birth.

Exposure to vinyl chloride may come through inhalation via tobacco smoke and can unfortunately contaminate the water supply. Listed below are the health effects where the evidence is sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship is at least as likely as not but not sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship exists equipoise and above in people exposed. Vinyl chloride a chemical known to cause cancer poisons the air breathed by workers and people living in contaminated communities. Vinyl chloride also causes cancer in laboratory animals following lifetime inhalation or oral exposure predominately in the liver.

Where risks occur the main route of occupational exposure to vinyl chloride is by inhalation which occurs primarily in vinyl chloride pvc plants and in pvc processing plants including packaging storage and handling of. Pvc workers are 45 times more likely to develop angiosarcoma. Health effects with sufficient evidence for causation for vinyl chloride.