Document VGx5pRzRRMzy2D6Vp6oX4GkwN

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 5 NOV/DEC 1984 >K53H NEWS & VIEWS PUBLICATION OFTHE AMERICAN COUNCILON SCIENCE ANDHEALTH* 1995 BROADWAY* NEW YORK, NY 10023(212)362-7044 PVC: How Toxic Is the Smoke? by Sharon Lynn Campbell HE SMOKE FROM BURNING POLYVINYL CHLORIDE (PVC) CONDUIT IS LITTLE, If any, more toxic than ordinary wood smoke. Yet a manufacturer ofmetal conduit has launched a campaign to scare consumers into buying its more expensive product by raising exag gerated concerns about the safety of PVC. Metal vs. PVC PVC conduit is a superior product for many uses. Metal conduit and piping cor rode, are expensive to produce, and require costly trained labor to install. They must be painted or protected from the elements in some other way. and :hey can sometimes cause fires via short c.r.-uits, although they cannot burn. In contrast, PVC does not cor rode, costs one-third as much as metal con duit to produce, and can be installed cheaply and easily even by do-it-yourselfers. PVC cannot start fires, and although it can burn, it does so only so long as a flame is held directly to it. PVCY virtues are-reflected in the growth of its market share, from a mere 9 percent in the late 1960s to 31 percent in 1980, with projections of 49 percent by 1995. Steel, which accounted for 68 percent of the con duit market in the 1960i, is expected to drop to 43 percent by 1995. In an effort to combat this trend. Allied TUbe and Conduit has placed a series of advertisements in trade journals, the Wash ington Post, and other publications, discus sing "Why you might not escape from a high-rise fire" and describing the so-called Intoxication Syndrome, supposedly caused by the presence of burning plastics. The advertisements describe in detail the fright ening symptoms suffered by victims of fires in which burning plasties are involved. What they do not mention is that the reac tions they describe will occur when people are exposed to any kind of smoke. They are not specific to PVC. Other Charges Against PVC Other angles to the Allied fear campaign have included charges that PVC pipe con taminates water, and that burning plastics are responsible for firefighters' cancer deaths. The claim that PVC pipe contaminates water with vinyl chloride monomer and other carcinogens has long since been dis proved. Full regulatory and standards approval have been granted for the use of PVC conduit for water. The issue of firefighters' cancer rates is less clear-cut. It is true that firefighters have a higher cancer rate than people in many other occupations. However, the reasons for this are complex and incompletely under stood. There is a total lick of evidence that burning plastics are responsible for firefigh ters* increased cancer risk. Electrical Code Controversy Allied's campaign against PVC has not been limited to misleading publicity. Another action by the company has led to a lawsuit by Carlon, a manufacturer of thinwalled PVC electrical conduit, for extreme irregularities in the way PVC was kept off of the list ofapproved materials in the National Electrical Code (NEC). The NEC, which is created by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), is a set of standards which do not by themselves carry the force of law, but which are almost always adopted by local governments by reference. This then gives them the force of law, and they become part of local building codes. Products not per mitted by the NEC thus suffer a serious mar keting setback. The NFPA periodically updates the NEC. Unfortunately, the way this is done is by having the NFPA membership vote on pro posed changes. This method invites abuse, since NFPA membership is not limited to experts in fire protection. A voting member-ship can be purchased by anyone, including you, for S50. As reported in the February 7, 1983 issue ofFortune, in 1980 Allied Thbe and Conduit took advantage of this system by buying memberships for its salespeople and other employees, and using that voting power to prevent Lhe Carlon product from being approved. Carlon promptly brought suit against both Allied and the NFPA. The NFPA has since been dismissed from the suit, which will go to court later this year. N6 Good Tests Available What makes this whole situation almost ludicrous is that no validated, well-accepted method of rating the relative toxicity of vari ous burning materials has yet bent devel oped. There are at least six different tests used for this purpose, but each has short comings and none of them approximates a real fire situation. Each fire is a unique set of circumstances, which makes the develop ment of good tests very difficult. Although efforts to develop better tests are currently underway, experts in the field generally agree that the current tests are of value pri marily as scientific tools. They are inade quate as a basis for regulations. SPI-26662 That hasn't stopped the regulators. In Oklahoma, the city of TUlsa has denied approval of PVC conduit, stating that the dangers of PVC "particularly under tire conditions, are well known because of the hazardous, disastrous, death dealing prod* ucts of combustion." The lack of a valid method of determining whether these com* bustion products are unusually hazardous does not seem to have deterred city officials. In New Mexico, a panel headed by the Director of the state's Construction Indus* tries Division has recommended severe limi tations on the use of PVC conduit. In New York City; PVC conduit made headlines in 1982, when the Metropolitan Itansh Authority (MTA) was censured by public interest groups for installing it in sub way stations. As a result of the highly publi cized allegations that the use of this conduit would increase the risk of toxic smoke inha lation during a fire, the installation of PVC tubing in the subways was discontinued, at a high cost to taxpayers. Existing PVC con duit is currently being removed by the MTA, at an additional cost. Tbe state ofNew York has also taken steps toward limiting the use of PVC, despite warnings from theconsultant who selected a toxicity test for the state's use that such tests should not be used for regulatory purposes. New York Secretary of State Gail S. Schaf fer has called the current codes and regula tions inadequate, stating that "neither building codes nor Are regulations seem to have taken much account of the dangerous aspects ofplastics." New York State Senator Israel Ruiz, Jr. has proposed a bill to ban PVC in wire insulation. After that bill* introduction. Dr. Roy T. Gottcsman, Executive Director of the Vinyl Institute, commented that "the bill claims that PVC emits toxic smoke when it burns but fails to point out that anything that burns, including such natural products as cotton, wool rugs and wood, emits toxic smoke. A press release on the bill is filled with exaggerations and errors of fact and could not stand up under any reasonable level of scientific scrutiny." The "Evidence" Against PVC ACSH took a dose look at tbe scientific evidence which allegedly shows the extreme toxidty of PVC smoke. Most of this evi dence comes from three organizations: Dr. Yves AlarieY research group at the Univer sity of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, the Washington-based Foundation for Fire PVC 4m net corrode, tom nor third o mA h awtal cmMI to prodece, n4cubt iMatted rhr--ly Mi iWy eveo tty do t> yoerseBers. (pnoo by J. Jon*) Safety, and the New York-based Public Interest Scientific Consulting Service, Inc. None of these were able to show us any con vincing evidence supporting their conten tions. it What makes this wholesitua tion almost ludicrous is that no validated, well-accepted method ofrating the relative toxicity of various burning materials has yet been developed. 99 A review of the papers produced by the Alarie group showed severe shortcomings in many cases, particularly in tbe work pub lished from 1977 to 1979. The work from 1979 on was somewhat better, but the researchers still made some odd assump tions and failed to include some compari sons that could easily have been done (and would probably have shown that PVC isn't quiteat bad as they say). The best paper pro duced by this group was published in 1983. Significantly; ft refrains from labeling PVC as deadly; as the earlier publications had done. In fact, it is merely a measure of how good a particular test is. Overall, the Alarie groups research fails to support claims that PVC smoke is unusually toxic. The research performed by the Founda tion for Fire Safety is weak, and some other actions by the Foundation suggest that its work is not to be trusted on any level. Two of the Foundation^ papers illustrate tbe problems with its research. In one, an unpublished report on an investigation of the Wifrhsir Hilton fire, the introduction states that the inveKigatioa was needed to "establish the role of synthetics in toxic insult," an unusual statement, since an unbiased investigation might have revealed that they played no role at all. The paper itselfwas full ofvague impressions, specula tions and unexplained contradictions, all of which "supported" the thesis that plastics killed the victims. Another paper, "Inhalation of Toxic Products from Fires," by Merritt M. Birky and Frederic B. Clarke, includes many assumptions which are unsupported by evi- SPf-26663 dence. It presents a table purporting to show a correlation between increased plastics use and the levels of hydrogen cyanide in fire victims' blood. There is no mention of the quantity or type of plastic used (which is important, since some plastics, including PVC, do not give off cyanide when burned), and the table doesn't even show asteady rise in the levels of both substances from year to ii The research performed by the Foundationfor Fire Safety is weak, and some other actions by theFoundation suggest that its work is not to be trusted on any level. JJ year. The paper also fails to include the nec essary stitinicil analysis which would tell if the numbers were really related. Scientific Deficiencies Other actions by the Foundation have also been scientifically questionable. It brought together a group of experts to develop a priority list of fire problems to be solved, and then proceeded to subject that list to a popular vote of its not-necessarilyexpert dues-paying members. It proposed an autopsy study that has been characterized by a forensic toxicologist at a major univer sity as needing much work to make it useful in the real world. The Foundation's Dr. Birky advocates having data on fire victims, living and dead, collected via studies done by firefighters with gas chromatographs in fire stations--a method that is unlikely to produce meaning ful results. Gas chromatographs.are exceed ingly touchy machines, requiring careful and complicated preparation of both the samples and the instrument. Accredited medical laboratories can do this, but it is doubtful that firefighters would be able to do so without expensive training and equip ment and without hindering the firefighting part of their jobs. The public information published in the Foundation's newsletter sometimes contains major factual errors. For instance, in one issue. Dr. Birky stated "the major prod ucts of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) combus tion are hydrogen chloride (HC1) and ben zene. ... Furthermore, exposure to benzene can lead to aplastic anemia which is believed to result in the development of leukemia." This is very frightening to the reader. It is also very wrong. The major products of PVC combustion are carbon monoxide (CO) and HC1, with benzene being only a very tiny iraction of the total gases given off. The doses of benzene that can lead to aplastic anemia are very large, and aplastic anemia seldom if ever causes leukemia. Looking for a Fight What is this foundation? Why was it founded? Its newsletter states that "the Foundation for Fire Safety was founded in part to help fill the vacuum left by the fed eral government when they opted to discon tinue many of the ongoing fire research and study programs." An interview published in the December 12, 1983 issue of Consumer Newsweekly offers a different view. In it, Gordon F. Vickery, founder and president of the Foun dation, comments that "a Democrat whok out of work in Washington, DC, and has a yeark lease on a condominium becomes very innovative. I went down and incorporated this foundation, and then looked for spon sors. When you look for money in Washing ton, you have to look for a fight. Nobody gives money for love. The fight between tins plastics industry and the steel industry was a natural--Thank God they're fighting!" The bulk of the Foundationk funding comes from the metals industry, including ii In New York City, PVC con duit made headlines in 1982, when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) was censured by public interest groupsfor installing it in subway stations. 99 large contributions from Allied Tbbe and Conduit. The third source of "evidence" condemn ing PVC, the Public Interest Scientific Con sulting Service, Inc., has not produced any high-quality scientific work. The President, Dr. Deborah N. Wallace, claims to have sev eral active research programs underway, but refused to talk with ACSH about them or anything else. Dr. Wallace is new to the field of PVC toxicity (her background is in envi ronmental biology) and some of her testi mony on PVC issues seems to reflect an incomplete knowledge of the subject. Many of her conclusions about causes of death, have been based on superficial evidence. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has described her study of firefighters' cancer as "not epidemiologically sound, and the conclusions could not be supported by the data."* Unfortunately for the consumer, a naive press has given heavy publicity to the scare stories about PVC smoke without looking closely at the likely motivations of those generating the stories, or at the results of research on PVC by other scientists. Let's take a look at what these other sources have to say about the safety of PVC. Other Evidence Neutral on PVC Hazard There have been few papers published in the scientific literature on PVC toxicity. What information there is indicates that while PVC smoke is toxic, no one has been able to show that it is more dangerous than wood smoke, or that in a fire situation, PVC smoke is a significant factor in the death. rate. Would restricting the use of plastics in genera] or PVC in particular have an effect on the fire death rate? International com parisons indicate that this is unlikely. Mod ern Plastics reported in its March 1982 issue that "vinyl and other plastics account for about 70 percent of electrical pipe and tub ing (including electrical conduit) used in construction in Sweden compared with only eight percent m the U.S., yet official Swed ish fire statistics show that the death rate attributable to fires is far lower than it is in the U.S. In Japan, which used more plastics in Us buildings and where fire hazards gener ally are much greater, the seeming paradox is that per capita fire losses are a fraction of ours." All in ail, the evidence fails to show that PVC is any extraordinary hazard in fire situ ations. The U.S. has one of the highest fire death rates among the industrialized nations, and research and prevention efforts should be concentrating on the factors which will help to prevent fire deaths. Yet it appears that Allied Tiibe and Conduit, in protecting its own economic interests, has diverted us from the really key factors in fire death prevention by drawing unwarranted attention to the toxicity of PVC smoke, x I NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Report #80155-776. Sharon Campbell, M.A., is a Research Associate with ACSH. SPI-26664 FACTS ABOUT VINYL CHLORIDE MONOMER VCM SPI-26665 t VCM CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) is the basic building block for pro ducing the most versatile plastic yet developed -- polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Today, thousands of products used in the home and in industry are made of PVC products which are extruded, molded or calendered from PVC resins into diverse shapes, sizes and colors. Mechanical characteristics can be controlled to produce forms that are rigid, flex ible, or in a liquid form such as latexes, pastes and adhesives. Most of the seven billion pounds of VCM produced annually in the United States is converted into PVC resin. The remainder is used as a chemical intermediate in various manufacturing processes. Over 60% of VCM is ultimately used to manufacture permanent construction materials such as pipe, siding, and flooring. VCM is a colorless gas made mostly by the pyrolysis of ethylene dichloride and is one of the purest organic compounds pro duced commercially; analyses of typical production material show SPI-26666 less than 100 parts per million (ppm) of total organic impurities. VCM has a faintly sweet odor at high concentrations. The product is sold, shipped, and stored in the form of a liquefied gas under pressure. This is similar to how propane is handled, for ex ample. VCM is converted to PVC by suspension, emulsion, bulk or solution polymerization methods. The primary method used in U.S. production is suspension polymerization. Most PVC is fabricated into end products by melt processing in extrusion, molding and calendering equipmem. VCM HAZARDS AND THEIR CONTROL While PVC resins and finished products are quite inert from a toxicity standpoint, there is con cern about possible cancer and other adverse health effects related to VCM exposure. Therefore, VCM producers and the Occupa tional Safety and Health Ad ministration (OSHA) require strict procedures for limiting potential exposure of personnel to VCM. Anyone using VCM must be j | j SPI-26667 3 familiar with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations dealing with health and safety, and should be aware of current Material Safety Data Sheet information as supplied by VCM producers. When vinyl chloride monomer is present in sufficiently high vapor concentrations (about 10,000 ppm), the vapor has a slight anesthetic action. Repeated ex* posure of employees to high levels of vapor has been linked to liver injury, acroosteolysis (a bone disease), and angiosarcoma (a cancer) of the liver. Other in juries, including mutagenic (chromosomal) changes, have also been reported but their relation ship to vinyl chloride is not as well established. Available epidemiological data indicate that employees exposed to low levels even for long periods of time have suffered no adverse effect. Federal (OSHA) standards currendy limit occupational exposure to an eight-hour Time Weighted Average (TWA) of 1 ppm with a maximum average value of 5 ppm for any 15-minute period. Manufacturing, handling and use of VCM must be conducted within SPI-26668 __________________________________ equipment designed to minimize potential exposures to and emis sions of VCM in the workplace environment. Conforming with federal regulations provides a margin of safety for employees working with the chemical. VCM FIRE AND EXPLO SION HAZARD Vinyl chloride must always be handled with an awareness of its volatility and flammability, its vapors can form highly flammable mixtures with air at all normal ambient temperatures. In general. precautions should be taken to: 1) keep the material enclosed; and 2) eliminate all ignition sources. In the laboratory, samples of Vinyl chloride should always be handled in a well ventilated hood and away from all ignition sources so that accidental releases of small quantities of vinyl chloride will not create a hazard. Most small fires can be ex tinguished with carbon dioxide or dry chemical agents properly ap plied. Adequate fire extinguishing equipment, fixed or portable, should be provided. Check l ] j j j 1 j j / } SPI-26669 } Material Safey Data Sheets for current recommendations. Precautions must be taken to guard against vinyl chloride enter ing closed drainage or general sewer systems because of the possibility of explosive mixtures being formed. VCM SPILLS AND LEAKAGE Because of flammability and tox icity problems, spills and leaks of vinyl chloride must be prevented or, at least, held to a minimum by proper design, maintenance and operating procedures' Current governmental standards specify methods of sampling, loading and handling aimed at minimizing emissions of vinyl chloride. The standards also require the installa tion of approved monitoring devices and vinyl chloride detec tors. If spills or leaks occur, all sources of ignition must be removed from the area immediately and only property protected personnel should remain in the area. Small spills usually evaporate rapidly but ample ventilation must be provid- SPI-26670 6 ed. For large spills, the recom mended action is to cover the sur face with protein-based foam to retard vaporization. If the spill has been confined in a pit or diked area it should be transferred into closed vessels or disposed of as soon as possible. Precautions must be taken to pre vent personnel contact with liquid VCM. In case of accidental con* tact with the liquid, immediate decontamination must be under taken, while preventing inhalation. There is a danger of frostbite due to rapid evaporation of VCM. VCM TRANSPORTATION OF Vinyl chloride monomer is ship ped in tank cars, barges and ships. These are specially designed and built to prevent contact of the VCM with copper, aluminum or their alloys which could cause for mation of explosive or flammable compounds - copper acetylides or aluminum chloraikyls. Vinyl chloride monomer is classified for transportation as a Flammable Compressed Gas. Re quirements for packing, marking, labeling, placarding and prepara- SPI-26671 lion of shipping papers are well defined by federal transportation agencies. VENTS AND WASTE DISPOSAL Disposal of liquid or vapor streams that contain vinyl chloride must be carried out so that fire and health hazards are controlled. The allowable concentration of vinyl chloride in process vents is set by EPA regulations. When the vinyl chloride in a waste vapor stream exceeds this level, the stream must be conducted through a suitable control device to remove vinyl chloride before the stream is released to the at mosphere. Procedures for clearing and venting vinyl chloridecontaining equipment prior to per sonnel entry are also covered in the EPA standard. When liquid vinyl chloride must be disposed of, it should be salvaged, if at all possible, by reprocessing through a vinyl chloride purification system. Otherwise, it must be burned in accordance with all applicable regulations in a suitable in cinerator system under conditions that will adequately control poten tial vinyl chloride or hydrochloric acid emissions to the air. SPI-26672 a FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Vinyl Institute A Division of The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. Wayne interchange Plaza 0 1S5 Route 46 West Wayne, New Jersey 07470 (201 >-890-9299 Members: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Borden Inc. CertainTeed Corporation The Dow Chemical Corporation Georgia Gulf Corporation The BFGoodrich Company Occidental Chemical Corporation PPG Industries, Inc. Shell Chemical Company Tenaeco, Inc. Vista Polymers, Inc. Spedal Member: Vinyl Council of Canada Associate Member: IC1 Europe Ltd. Petrochemicals and Mastics Division art at SPl-26673