Is the process for manufacturing vinyl safe for workers, the environment and the surrounding community?

Yes. The vinyl production process is strictly regulated by federal, state and local governments, and is essentially enclosed and computer-controlled, to safeguard the health of industry workers, people living near vinyl manufacturing facilities, and the environment. In addition, North American vinyl resin manufacturers have made a voluntary public commitment to achieve the goals of the chemical industry’s Responsible Care® program (www.americanchemistry.com), one of the most comprehensive and conscientious standards of health, safety and environmental conduct created by any industry.

Workplace exposures to VCM are limited by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to one part per million averaged over eight hours. This regulation was in response to a rare form of liver cancer found in highly exposed vinyl workers in the early 1970s. The vinyl manufacturing process was also reengineered in the 1970s to minimize worker exposure. No known case of this rare cancer has been identified in a U.S. vinyl production worker whose work history began after the stricter OSHA regulations and re-engineered processing technology were introduced in the late 1970s.2

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates air and water emissions and solid waste disposal associated with the vinyl manufacturing process. The agency confirmed in 2002 that the vinyl industry was meeting the "maximum achievable control technology" standard for vinyl mandated in 1990 by the Clean Air Act. From 1987 to 2000, facilities operated by all U.S. producers reduced their reported releases of EDC and VCM by 95 percent and 74 percent, respectively. In reality, significant VCM emission reductions were made long before 1987.

2 Presentation by Dr. Marc Boeckx, Tessenderlo Group, the 30th Congress on Occupational and Environmental Health in the Chemical Industry (Medichem 2002), Baltimore, Maryland, Oct. 26-28, 2002