Have you heard of vinyl chloride (VC)? It’s the dangerous petrochemical cargo that sparked an entire region’s ongoing environmental nightmare when a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
Vinyl chloride is a poisonous carcinogen at every point in the manufacturing process — from creation to use to disposal. Research shows that even short-term exposure to VC in the air affects your central nervous system, causing dizziness, drowsiness, and headaches.
After the East Palestine spill, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting a risk evaluation of this chemical. In part due to public outcry — including actions you took!
Vinyl chloride is a toxic, colorless, flammable chemical created from fracked gas to make a common plastic called PVC. It’s used to make everything from children's toys, including the iconic rubber ducky, to floor coverings, shower curtains, raincoats, and vinyl siding. Vinyl chloride is also used to make PVC water pipes, where it can leach into our drinking water.
Vinyl chloride is often manufactured in low-income communities and communities of color in Louisiana, Texas, and Kentucky and transported through communities like East Palestine, where it further threatens the health and safety of people and the environment.
Fortunately, there are safer alternatives to PVC, but lobbyists are pushing for more water systems to use PVC pipes rather than metal legacy pipes. It’s another reason why we need the EPA to take action and ban vinyl chloride.
Food & Water Action and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Watch, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate.
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