Porphyria Educational Services
PORPHYRIA EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
Bulletin Vol. 1 No. 27 July 4, 1999
Focus: Polyvinyl Chloride, Phalates & Vinyl Chloride
What is Polyvinyl Chloride or Phthalate?
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC, or Vinyl) aka Phthalates are one of the
most commonly used materials in the consumer marketplace.
Polyvinyl Chloride is found in packaging, construction and
automotive material, all categories of products, including toys,
and medical equipment.
PVC contains Phthalates, which accumulate in body tissues, and
can damage liver, lungs, and have been shown in lower mammals to
damage reproductive organs.
Phthalates are freely given off by plastics in which it occurs,
and because it is fat soluble, is found in quantity in meats and
cheeses wrapped in PVC packaging. Although Phthalates show almost
no toxicity in adult humans in acute (short term) doses, even at
high doses, it is the cumulative nature of phthalate toxicity
which results in toxic effects even at very low dosage when
ingested chronically (over a long period of time). Very young
infants do not metabolize Phthalates as well as adults, and so
are at greater risk of harm. The common availability of
Phthalates in the consumer environment causes inevitable chronic
ingestion for almost all modern industrial consumers.
However there is another side to PVC's. When lives are on the
line, healthcare providers around the country trust vinyl medical
products. For more than 40 years, vinyl medical products have
played a crucial role in hospitals, clinics and other health care
settings. From blood and IV bags to dialysis tubing, catheters
and inhalation masks, vinyl's unique characteristics meet the
health care industry's tough performance standards while also
being durable, easily sterilized and non-breakable. Indeed, no
other material on the market performs as well or as cost
effectively as vinyl.
VINYL CHLORIDE There is sufficient evidence for the
carcinogenicity of vinyl chloride. >1979; IARC S.4, When
administered by inhalation, vinyl chloride induced pulmonary
adenomas and adenocarcinomas, mammary adenocarcinomas, liver
angiosarcomas, and angiosarcomas and adenocarcinomas.
.
Inhalation of vinyl chloride induced Zymbal gland carcinomas,
nephroblastomas, and liver angiosarcomas in rats of both sexes
and mammary tumors and heptacellular carcinomas in female rats.
Also when administered by inhalation, vinyl chloride induced skin
tumors in male hamsters.
An investigative reports shows that there is sufficient evidence
for the carcinogenicity of vinyl chloride in humans Vinyl
chloride has been associated with tumors of the liver, brain,
lung, and hematolymphopoietic system. A large number of
epidemiological studies and case reports have substantiated the
causal association between vinyl chloride and angiosarcoma of the
liver. Several studies also confirm that exposure to vinyl
chloride causes hepatocellular carcinoma, brain tumors, lung
tumors, and malignancies of the lymphatic and hematopoietic
system.
Vinyl chloride is a colorless, flammable gas with a faintly sweet
odor. The gas polymerizes in light and liquifies in a freezing
mixture. It is slightly soluble in water, soluble in ethanol, and
very soluble in ether, carbon tetrachloride, and benzene.
In the form of vapor, vinyl chloride is a dangerous fire and
severe explosion hazard when exposed to heat, flame, or
oxidizers. On standing, it forms peroxides in air and can then
explode.
Vinyl chloride is industrially important because of the inherent
flame retardant properties of its polymer, its wide variety of
end use products, and the low cost of producing polymers from it
Vinyl chloride monomer is the parent compound of polyvinyl
chloride (PVC), a plastic resin used in innumerable consumer and
industrial products, including containers, wrapping film, battery
cell separators, electrical insulation, water distribution
systems (water and drain pipes, hose), flooring, windows,
phonograph records, videodiscs, irrigation systems, and credit
cards. Vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers are used
extensively to produce vinyl-asbestos floor tiles/ The primary
routes of potential human exposure to vinyl chloride are
inhalation and dermal contact. Potential human exposure to vinyl
chloride occurs in the workplace, through general air and water
pollution, and to a limited extent, from the use of fabricated
products Never use such products for cooking food in a microwave.
Hexachlorobenzene Hexachlorobenzene is a white crystalline solid.
This compound does not occur naturally. Hexachlorobenzene was
widely used as a pesticide until 1965. It was also used to make
fireworks, ammunition, and synthetic rubber.
It is formed as a by-product during the manufacture of chemicals
use for making solvents, other chlorine-containing compounds, and
pesticides. Small amounts of hexachlorobenzene can also be
produced during combustion processes such as burning of city
wastes. It may also be produced as a by-product in waste streams
of chlor-alkali and wood preserving plants.
There are no current commercial uses of the substance.
Hexachlorobenzene tends to remain as a solid in the environment
for a long Most of it will be in the form of particles clinging
to the bottom and sides of lakes or streams, since it does not
dissolve in water very well. The evaporation of this substance
into the air is not significant under ordinary conditions