PEDIATRICS Vol. 54 No. 2 August 1974, pp. 138
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VINYL CHLORIDE

Robert W. Miller M.D.1

1 Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute-NIH, Bethesda, Maryland

A 1frac12-day international symposium was held in New York primarily on liver disease from heavy industrial exposure to vinyl chloride. Worldwide, 19 workers are known to have developed hepatic angiosarcoma: 13 in the United States, two in West Germany, two in Sweden, and one each in Great Britain and Norway. The interval between first vinyl chloride exposure and diagnosis was 11 to 30 years. Duration of exposure was the same-11 to 30 years.

According to a New York Times report on June 1, 1974, a review of cases of hepatic angiosarcomas in the New York and Connecticut Tumor Registries yielded two of special interest. One was a 62-year-old woman who for nearly 30 years lived four blocks (about 0.3 km) from a factory where polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was made. The other was a worker who for 30 years used PVC resin to make insulation for electrical wire. A causal relation in these cases cannot be established. They do suggest, however, the possibility (perhaps remote) that carcinogenic exposures may occur from living in the neighborhood of a vinyl chloride factory or from certain polyvinyl plastics that contain the vinyl chloride monomer.