Mike Schade, an expert from the group Toxic-Free Future, has been warning about the whole lifecycle dangers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, for years. "PVC releases highly hazardous chemicals, and it has had devastating impacts for communities and workers for decades. We call it the poison plastic," he says.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl) is the most toxic plastic for our health and the environment. For more than 30 years, leading health, environmental justice, and health-impacted organizations across the country and world have been campaigning to phase out this poison plastic. So, after 5 half-lives (using the value 0.35 days for the half-life) 97% of the chemical will be gone from soil. In water, most will be gone in a few hours. The fate of the chemical, should it find its way to groundwater is not well understood:By coincidence, the first person I met in Bangkok was a retired Belgian petrochemical engineer. He was surprised when I told him not only that vinyl record sales had been increasing since 2005 but that the recording industry still used what he saw as a grimy and outmoded material. But he knew one thing for sure: TPC was not going to let me see how PVC is made. He was right. Raised in Los Angeles’s Armenian-American community, all four members of System of a Down were primed to see through the myth of American exceptionalism that would justify the coming warmongering of George W. Bush’s presidency. Their families had survived the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century; they grew up in the United States with ancestral scars from a massacre still officially denied by its perpetrators, which lent them keen eyes for political suppression and internal propaganda. It’s as if their position as ethnic outsiders in one of the largest cities in the U.S. contributed to the atypical configuration of their sound. Even if I lived near East Palestine I would not be concerned about liver cancer from such short exposure. But I might stop drinking. Alcohol, upon ingestion, forms acetaldehyde, which is both toxic and carcinogenic

Table 1. LD 50 values of vinyl chloride compared to some common substances. The higher the number the safer the chemical. Keep in mind that exposure at the accident was from inhalation, not oral consumption , so these data are only indirectly applicable. It is difficult to determine inhalation toxicity from oral LD 50 values. It is, at best, an approximation. The same holds true for other conditions that can arise from chronic, but not acute, exposure to the chemical: System of a Down's Toxicity is my favorite album. It is their cleanest, most balanced and straightforward album out, all songs harmoniously being played after each other in perfect unsion. It is not just during the production phase that PVC is dangerous. The use of PVC products also pose health risks to consumers. "PVC plastic is often filled with a witches' brew of toxic additives such as lead, cadmium, phthalates," says Schade.

Release

Treatment options for HAS are limited. Thus, as is described below, the prevention of VCM exposure should be the initial focus of employers and workplaces. Exposure to phosgene gas represents the most dangerous scenario and it isn’t clear whether this has been an issue. This remains the most troubling unknown scenario in the accident. Fortunately, these gases dissipate rapidly. Preventing, detecting, and managing significant occupational VCM exposure and its complications requires a multifaceted and integrated approach between occupational health (OH) and safety professionals, OH nurses, industrial hygienists, physicians, governmental agencies such as OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and private industry. In the US, the 1974 BF Goodrich plant HAS cases prompted further research and swift regulatory action leading to rapid compliance with a new, much more stringent occupational exposure limit. No further HAS cases have developed in workers exclusively exposed after the implementation of this standard. [8] Cases of HAS reported in workers abroad exposed in the recent decades reflect the ongoing importance of these efforts. [10] [11] OH nurses and physicians should be aware that individuals with VCM exposure complications may require an interprofessional approach (hepatology, dermatology, rheumatology), and any case of HAS in a VCM exposed worker should be considered a sentinel occupational health event (SHEO) requiring a prompt and thorough review of workplace practices to ensure no ongoing excess workplace exposure.

One-time acute exposures to VCM, causing mild symptoms such as dizziness and headaches, have not been proven to propagate long-term effects." The Weight of the Evidence on DEHP: Exposures Are a Cause for Concern, Especially During Medical Care PVC in Schools Among the many functions of the NFPA is the identification and evaluation of hazardous materials that first responders may encounter in case of a fire or spill. As such, the organization has a database of hundreds of potentially hazardous chemicals along with warnings about the particular hazards of each substance. As stated in the NFPA's disclaimer (1) the information provided is qualitative, not quantitative, and may have data gaps. Nonetheless, it is a useful tool for coping with accidents like the one in Ohio. Here's an example of an NFPA safety diamond. Communities of colour and low-income communities face pollution as well as serious risks associated with accidents and explosions day in and day out in places like Cancer Alley. Sadly, they don't get quite the attention this derailment has gotten," says Schade.Workers presenting with the symptoms or signs of hepatic dysfunction, or chronic systemic illness, should receive specialty evaluation by an occupational medicine physician or medical toxicologist for occupational exposure evaluation, as well as a hepatologist for the potential treatment of vinyl chloride-induced hepatic damage and HAS. A fire at the same plant last year raised concerns about the potential release of ethylene oxide, but no 'protective measures' for the community were advised by officials. And in 2012, a train carrying vinyl chloride – bound for the same plastics plant in New Jersey that was the destination of the Ohio train – derailed and plunged into a creek, releasing 23,000 gallons of the chemical and prompting evacuations of nearby homes. It is a classic case of environmental injustice and racism," says Schade. He notes that studies of Mossville have documented that residents were exposed to elevated concentrations of dioxins, while dioxins were also found in the food supply chain. Monica Unseld, a biologist and executive director of Louisville-based non-profit Until Justice Data Partners, says response from authorities is part of a systemic problem. "In the US, we don't typically test chemicals for safety before we put them on the market. Americans are born with hundreds of chemicals already in their bodies," she says. The production of PVC involves combining chlorine with ethylene, which is obtained from oil, to form vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). Molecules of VCM are polymerised to form PVC resin, and additives are incorporated to give the PVC certain properties.