Vinyl Chloride

VINYL CHLORIDE

Vinyl chloride is mainly used to make PVC plastics or “polyvinyl chloride” plastics and vinyl products. Acute exposure leads to CNS effects, such as headaches, drowsiness, and dizziness. Chronic exposure to vinyl chloride leads to liver damage with liver cancer a rare complication of vinyl chloride exposure. While most exposure comes out of the PVC industry, vinyl chloride is used to make some times of furniture, car upholstery, cable coatings, housewares, wall coverings, and car parts. Figure 3 shows the chemical structures of vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride:

Most exposures come from exhaust gases in factories that use vinyl chloride or in the air where vinyl chloride is stored. Air inside new cars contains vinyl chloride and drinking water may contain vinyl chloride if PVC pipe is used to transport water. Microbes break down trichloroethylene in ground water to make vinyl chloride in water sources and occupational exposure can happen when workers handle the chemical. It can be assessed in urine and tissues but this does not reliably predict the worker’s total exposure to the substance.