Fact-Checking The Washington Times on PVC Pipe

On May 22nd, an opinion piece in The Washington Times titled “Ductile iron pipes: A life partner for clean, safe drinking water” applauded historic federal investments in drinking water infrastructure.

We echo the author’s applause of this crucial funding, but we think the incomplete picture painted of PVC pipes warrants a rebuttal.

The need for improved water infrastructure is clear and present, as more than 2.6 trillion gallons of treated water leak from antiquated and corroded pipes each year.

Unlike some alternatives, PVC pipes do not corrode. As corrosion builds in pipes, more energy is needed to pump water to its destination, and the resulting buildup of bacteria can affect the quality of the water. Replacing corroded pipes with PVC allows towns and municipalities to lower their energy costs and keep bacteria out of their water. We’d call that a win-win.

Contrary to claims of PVC’s fragility, academic research shows that PVC pipe can remain in operation for more than 100 years – and has an extremely low failure rate. This durability, paired with PVC’s cost-effectiveness, will give local decision-makers more bang for their buck and allow for more extensive infrastructure improvements than alternative materials.

Replacing old pipes from coast to coast is a tall task, but the vinyl industry is up to the challenge. Over the past three decades, the industry has lowered carbon emissions while doubling PVC production. As communities can expect their energy usage to decrease with more efficient PVC pipes, the industry expects to increase output and improve sustainability.

We respect the author’s advocacy for improving our nation’s water infrastructure, but we want to ensure that all materials are given a fair shake in the decision-making process. PVC pipes offer long-lasting durability, corrosion resistance, and a reduced environmental footprint, making them reliable and sustainable for America’s new and improved water infrastructure. If the question is, “How do we provide clean water to more Americans?” PVC is undoubtedly a big part of the answer.

Fashionable Nonsense: Vogue Spreads Anti-PVC Myths

The world is awash in critical problems: war, inflation, poverty and widespread hunger, to name four of the worst. But there’s another serious threat to our health and well-being lurking just beyond the horizon—jelly shoes. According to the fashion experts at Vogue, this increasingly popular footwear, made of sustainable PVC plastic and widely available to consumers at affordable prices, apparently has a “darker side.” 

Without providing a single piece of compelling evidence, Vogue asserts that PVC is linked to cancer, reproductive harm and environmental pollution. The solution, reporter Amy Francombe declares, is “better educating consumers on the impact of what’s on their feet.” 

We agree that a little education is in order, but it’s Vogue’s editorial staff that needs a quick lesson in basic toxicology and journalistic ethics, because Francombe‘s story is short on both. The simple fact is that jelly shoes, and PVC more generally, do not pose a risk to public health or the environment.

A non-toxic material

While Vogue cites an anti-plastic activist group as a source for its claim that certain chemicals in PVC may cause cancer, we prefer to rely on the US Government’s National Cancer Institute (NCI), a global authority on the subject. NCI’s summary is plain as day: “PVC is not a known or suspected carcinogen.” 

As reporters are wont to do, Francombe alleges the chemical used to manufacture PVC, vinyl chloride (VC), is carcinogenic without mentioning a critical fact: there is almost no vinyl chloride in finished PVC products, jelly shoes included. During the manufacturing process, steam is used to strip residual vinyl chloride out of PVC; the chemical is found “typically at non-detect levels,” according to a 2005 study. There is also no evidence that the public is exposed to unsafe levels of VC in the environment, per the CDC:

“Vinyl chloride is not normally found in urban, suburban, or rural air in amounts that are detectable…” 

The same can be said of the chemicals used to enhance PVC for a wide variety of applications, for example plasticizers known as “phthalates” that are sometimes used to make PVC more flexible. These substances are tightly regulated by health officials to protect the public from harm, and they have a 50-year track record of safe use in consumer products.

Mixing up cause and effect

Some speculative studies have attempted to link phthalate exposure to the harms described by Vogue. However, veteran chemist and science educator Dr. Joe Schwarcz provides the crucial context we need to make sense of this research:

“Let’s start by pointing out the obvious. An association does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. A classic example is the correlation of ice cream sales with drownings. Ice cream sales increase in the summer as do drownings, but people do not drown because they have eaten ice cream.”

In other words, people who are exposed to phthalates (everybody) may experience health effects caused by other substances or behaviors that we know are harmful. A large body of research shows, for example, that excessive weight gain can cause hormonal damage that affects reproductive health in men and women.  Vogue was so eager to associate PVC with “hormonal  disruption” that it overlooked a far more likely cause of the problem. 

Recycling myths revisited

Vogue also made the banal claim found in nearly all anti-plastic stories: “PVC is typically not recycled or recyclable.” Utterly false. In fact, more than 1 billion pounds of the material are recycled annually in North America at more than 100 vinyl recyclers. Since 2014, post-consumer PVC recycling has increased by more than 40 percent. 

Moreover, because the material is so durable, PVC products often last for many years, which keeps large amounts of plastic out of landfills. Vogue got remarkably close to admitting this when  Francombe unwittingly observed that “PVC is a durable, lightweight water-resistant material, making it well suited for this style of sandal.”

Conclusion

The great irony here is that consumers are actually making a smart choice by wearing PVC-based jelly shoes. Not only are they durable (read: “sustainable”), they come in a range of styles and at price points that suit a wide variety of consumers. Indeed, these sandals are a textbook example of how plastic makes our lives better. We like the way one team of experts summed up this point:

“Wonderfully weird and certainly playful in its aesthetic, the jelly sandal is also ultraconvenient when it comes to the effortlessness required when dealing with sun, surf, and sand. It’s no wonder they make for the perfect vacation shoe for all ages. Shop all favorites, below.”

You know who wrote that? The fashion gurus at Vogue. Perhaps PVC isn’t so troubling after all.

Reduce Your Exposure To Science—By Reading Consumer Reports

America has one of the safest food supplies in the world. This is due in large part to our use of plastics to transport and store the wide variety of products that fill our grocery stores. Preserving fruits, vegetables, meats and other foods in plastic prevents waste and reduces our risk of exposure to food-borne pathogens that can wreak havoc on our health.

This is excellent news to any reasonable observer. Nobody could object to an abundant and safe food supply, right? Not exactly. As it turns out, Consumer Reports (CR) does just that. While most of us see plastic as a practical food-safety technology, CR views the material as a serious threat “linked to a long list of health concerns.”

As is their wont, CR is again ignoring inconvenient evidence and misleading consumers who mistakenly trust them. 

Fabricated health concerns in WaPo

In a recent piece for the Washington Post, CR’s director of health and food content Lauren Friedman urges readers to reduce their “exposure to plastics in food (and everywhere else).” Friedman’s advice is based on the spurious claim that chemicals in plastic containers, specifically a class of plasticizers called phthalates, cause “endocrine disruption,” one of the environmental movement’s perennial (but long-debunked) bogeymen. 

FDA refutes activist speculation

As we have reported several times, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has twice dismissed these speculative concerns about phthalates based on a thorough review of all the available evidence. Concerned that Ms. Friedman omitted this important point from her story – given that CR has previously acknowledged the FDA’s analysis – Kevin Ott with the Flexible Vinyl Alliance reached out to her directly, urging that she report all the facts. His email is reproduced below: 

Speak no evil

Friedman’s response was telling. Instead of correcting her coverage, she pleaded the Fifth and tasked CR’s public relations team with responding. Nothing says, “I value honesty” like silence. 

Consumer Reports declares that it “works side by side with consumers for truth, transparency, and fairness in the marketplace.” That’s a laudable sentiment. But given Friedman’s misleading story and non-response to constructive criticism, it seems that Consumer Reports is merely paying lip service to those ideals. The simple fact is that you can’t work with consumers for truth in the marketplace if you refuse to tell them the truth in the first place.

Half-Truths and Full Falsehoods: Beyond Plastics’ Vinyl Chloride 'Distortion' Sheet

Vinyl chloride (VC) is used to engineer a wide variety of essential products, including life-saving medical technologies that aren’t easily replaced. Vinyl chloride poses essentially no risk to public health as currently utilized. The Biden Administration affirms that “... [T]he vinyl industry takes safety and health seriously.” 

These statements are demonstrable facts related to the safety of vinyl chloride. Oddly, one place you won’t find any of them is Beyond Plastics’ recently released vinyl chloride “fact sheet.” It reads more like a distortion sheet, as nearly every statement in the document is partially or entirely false, and carefully framed to stoke fear where none is justified.

Let’s take a critical look at Beyond Plastics’ key claims with the aim of developing a more balanced view of vinyl chloride and its uses, as well as the extensive measures that ensure the chemical is employed safely and responsibly. 

A thoroughly regulated chemical

It’s important to note from the outset that the production and use of vinyl chloride are heavily regulated and monitored by multiple governmental agencies, both in the United States and internationally. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set strict limits on the amount of vinyl chloride that can be released into the environment, while the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforces strict protocols to prevent harmful workplace exposure to the chemical. 

These regulatory measures, combined with advances in technology and industry best practices, have significantly reduced the risks associated with vinyl chloride exposure. Both the EPA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reached the same conclusion.

Straight talk about exposure

Beyond Plastics glosses over all these critical details. For instance, the group claims "vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen.” What it doesn’t mention is that vinyl chloride was classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) based on studies of workers exposed to very high levels of vinyl chloride. As IARC observed in its 133-page review:

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) … concluded that the development and acceptance by the PVC industry of a closed-loop polymerization process in the late 1970s ‘almost completely eliminated worker exposure’ and that ‘new cases of [liver cancer] in vinyl chloride polymerization workers have been virtually eliminated.’” [Emphasis added]

Research published after IARC’s review only strengthened its conclusion, finding that the last case of cancer attributed to VC exposure was diagnosed 50 years ago.

Here’s the plain truth Beyond Plastics ties itself in knots trying to evade: industrial exposure to vinyl chloride from five decades ago is irrelevant to the general public in 2024. Americans are not exposed to harmful levels of VC through food, water, consumer products or any other typical environmental exposures— as the EPA and CDC both attest. 

Ignored benefits

As they’re wont to do, Beyond Plastics overlooks the significant benefits that vinyl chloride and PVC bring to society. PVC is a versatile and widely used plastic, with applications ranging from construction materials and medical devices to consumer products and packaging. Its durability, low cost and ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions make it an attractive choice for many essential uses. 

For example, PVC supplies clean drinking water–a vital public health safeguard–to millions of people while generating more than $6 billion in economic output every year. Put another way, the production of vinyl chloride improves the welfare of ordinary Americans, providing jobs and protecting the health of local communities across the country.

Costly Alternatives

All these essential uses of the chemical give the lie to Beyond Plastic’s claim that "there are safer alternatives to vinyl chloride and PVC." While there are some substitute materials for PVC, many are unproven, while others are inferior options with significant downsides.

For example, iron water pipes can cost as much as 90 percent more than PVC and expose consumers to harmful bacterial contamination. Vinyl bags preserve blood longer than their glass predecessors could, while blister packs made of the same material extend the shelf life of critically important medicines. 

Consider all the facts

Every observation in this post is easily verified by visiting the websites of federal agencies like the EPA. Since Beyond Plastics is led by a former EPA official with a self-described “expansive career working to protect public health and the environment,” we’re forced to ask an awkward question: 

If the activist group wants to give Americans “the facts” about vinyl chloride, why did it exclude so many of them? 

PVC Alternatives Are Here? Not So Fast

PVC is used to make a wide variety of useful products and the reason for that is simple: the material solves practical problems better than any substitute can. In some cases, there aren’t even viable alternative materials available.

Nevertheless, we’ve seen a handful of recent news stories claiming “PVC free” products can be easily swapped in place of the real thing – and yield the same results. Both Yale Environment360 as well as Floor Trends & Installation published articles in the PVC-can-be-replaced genre within the last month. These pieces perpetuate errors and misinformation about the safety and benefits of vinyl and PVC products, so let’s take a brief look at each one.

Yale repeats activist talking points

Yale Environment 360 claimed in a February 15 story that “there are alternatives for PVC for most uses — including for vinyl records, medical devices, and construction material.” But the situation isn’t that simple. 

As the story briefly acknowledges, these substitutes are significantly more expensive—90 percent more in the case of ductile iron pipe. In practice that means Americans would pay a lot more for access to essential goods and services that PVC already does – safely – for a lot less, including clean drinking water, medical care, and construction. And as inflation continues to strain family budgets, especially in sectors like housing, the cost savings created by PVC simply can’t be ignored. 

The other important point is that eliminating PVC would also discard the benefits the material provides. The Vinyl Institute has noted many of these upsides in separate reports focusing on PVC water pipe and medical devices.  

For instance, PVC bags preserve blood much longer than other materials. They also reduce the risk of contamination and breakage, which is why health care providers have mostly abandoned glass containers for storing blood and other important fluids.  

Likewise, PVC pipe has “the lowest break rate when compared to cast iron, ductile iron, steel and asbestos cement pipes,” according to new research from Utah State University. PVC pipe also drastically reduces tuberculation, a form of internal corrosion and biofilm contamination that can occur in other piping materials. Tuberculation creates a breeding ground for harmful bacteria such as Legionella and E. coli, as the National Academy of Sciences has explained.

Debunking flooring myths (again)

In a pair of recent stories on vinyl flooring, Floor Trends & Installation makes the same unforced errors Yale did. While the outlet notes PVC/vinyl flooring has “price and design flexibility,” and that most alternative materials “cost more,” it still suggests that the industry is (and should be) moving away from the material.

Major questions surround the lasting durability and strength of unproven PVC alternative flooring materials. The outlet also vaguely points to “concerns about health impacts and environmental hazards” of vinyl flooring. But none of these claims withstand scientific scrutiny. 

Floor Trends & Installation claims, for example, that “phthalates used in vinyl flooring had negative human health impacts.” But credible research doesn’t support this claim. We’ve debunked it multiple times now, but the bottom line is this: Phthalates used in PVC products have been safely used in consumer and commercial products for over five decades. They are some of the most tested substances in the world. Independent scientists know very well that phthalates are safe for their intended use. 

Even the California Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) – which implements some of the strictest environmental regulations of any state in the nation – issued a “Safe Use Determination for diisononyl phthalate (DINP) in vinyl flooring measured at or below designated OEHHA safe harbor levels. “OEHHA’s decision confirms that the presence of DINP in vinyl flooring not exceeding the 18.9% threshold is safe and appropriate for consumers,” noted Dean Thompson, then-president of the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI). 

That fact was a simple Google search away – and would have added important balance and clarity for Floor Trends & Installation readers. Yet it was conveniently omitted because it failed to conform to the author’s preconceived anti-PVC narrative.

Conclusion

In sum, PVC is a safe material that lowers the costs of vitally important products that protect public health and the environment. This is why the market for the material is rapidly growing and projected to reach $12 billion by 2031. Attempts to eliminate PVC from modern life are driven by ideologues, not defenders of credible science, who have little regard for the consequences (unintended or not) of their positions. 

The media can (and should) do better. But we’ve seen this behavior before. It’s why we do what we do here at Vinyl Verified. When reporters fall short of their own journalism standards, we’ll point out their errors, omissions and misleading statements, so that the public can base their judgements on a full and complete view of the facts.  

Defending Vinyl Chloride: Unveiling Fact Amidst Misinformation Campaigns

Vinyl chloride (VC) makes modern life possible. As a building block for hundreds of products, the chemical enables the safe production and use of technologies that can be seen all around us. From life-saving blood bags, sustainable water pipes, car interiors and televisions to durable flooring, furniture, wall coverings and electrical wiring – even the cables that connect us to the internet – are all possible thanks to VC. The list goes on and on and on.

Ignoring these fundamental facts, a handful of agenda-fueled activist groups have sought to exploit the tragic events in East Palestine last February to ban VC. Two groups merit special scrutiny here: Toxic-Free Future (TFF) and the anti-VC website Safe Piping Matters (SPM).

Both outfits have recently amplified outright falsehoods about the safety of using and transporting VC as the first anniversary of the derailment in Ohio approaches.

We’d like to take a closer look at the misinformation promoted by these groups and dispel the unfounded concerns they’ve tried to foist on the public.

Transporting VC: just the facts

In late January, TFF published an error-riddled report attacking the rail transport of vinyl chloride. The authors employed carefully selected statistics and half-truths to build their fallacious case, urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban VC. SPM repeated many of the same talking points in a pair of recent blog posts.

The primary flaw in the TFF report was its assumption that large quantities of VC are transported by rail. “We estimate that up to 36 million pounds of vinyl chloride travels … across nearly 2,000 miles of U.S. railways at any given moment,” the authors speculated. Left out of the report was the CDC’s striking observation that “In many cases, vinyl chloride is transported by pipeline directly to the plant producing [other products].

In fact, around 95% of the vinyl chloride consumed in the United States is sent by pipeline to a processing facility on the same property. Put another way, TFF’s estimates represent just five percent of the VC used in the US.

Since so little vinyl chloride is shipped by rail, train accidents involving VC are exceedingly rare. Nevertheless, rail remains a very safe way to ship chemicals. More than two million carloads of plastics, fertilizers and other chemicals were moved by rail in 2022. And while the goal is for 100% safe transportation, more than 99.9 percent reached their destinations without incident.

Indeed, derailments are generally uncommon in the US. According to a 2021 analysis by the Eno Center for Transportation, the “vast majority” of train accidents are derailments that occur in rail yards or elsewhere on rail company property. Most of these accidents are “relatively minor,” the report added. Department of Transportation data also shows that train accidents have steadily and significantly declined since 2000.

VC safety

Transportation aside, Toxic-Free Future’s allegations about VC are equally misleading. The simple fact is that six decades of research and real-world use prove VC is safe.

Exposure to VC is nearly non-existent today. TFF omitted that the industry has completely changed the way VC is processed to protect workers during manufacturing. And the industry conforms with very strict manufacturing and safety regulations by the US government.

This is supported by the fact that the last case of a very rare form of liver cancer attributed to VC exposure during production in the 1970s was diagnosed in 1974 — that is, 50 years ago. But groups like TFF want the public to falsely equate the modern vinyl industry with its predecessor from the 1970s. And in doing so, they ignore major technological developments that have dramatically improved worker safety since.

We prefer the way the Biden Administration put it in 2022: “... [T]he vinyl industry takes safety and health seriously.”

Implying that the public is at risk from vinyl chloride exposure is even more disingenuous. Ironically, we can illustrate this point using the source TFF cited to bolster its safety claim, the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), which stated:

“Vinyl chloride is not normally found in urban, suburban, or rural air in amounts that are detectable…”

ATSDR noted this in the very document TFF referenced. A separate agency FAQ also cited by TFF reported that the general public is unlikely to be exposed to VC through food or water, while other studies have found that finished products contain miniscule amounts of vinyl chloride that cannot cause harm.

Facts must prevail

The TFF report concluded with a call that the EPA “expeditiously” ban VC, owing to the “serious danger” it holds for public health. Though as we’ve seen in just this brief analysis, neither the transportation nor the production of vinyl chloride poses a threat to Americans.

The unfortunate truth is that Toxic-Free Future and sympathetic outfits like Safe Piping Matters are willing to mislead the public and disrupt their lives–that’s what a VC ban would do–if it gives them an opportunity to advance their anti-plastic agenda. Americans deserve much better than that.

Media Malpractice: GRIST Withholds Key Safety Info From Readers

We want the public to know all the facts about PVC. Whenever the media has questions about the extensive safety record or hundreds of uses of this versatile plastic, we’re eager to supply science-based answers. Unfortunately, we sometimes come across reporters who ask for our input on their stories only to use it selectively to bolster the ideological narrative they want to sell to their readers.

Case in point: GRIST reporter Joseph Winters asked our colleagues at the Vinyl Institute for information about the safety of vinyl chloride (VCM), a chemical used to manufacture PVC, for a recent story he wrote about the EPA’s upcoming review of VCM. 

Specifically, Winters asked the Institute to address the claim that “vinyl chloride producers sought to suppress/downplay information about the health and environmental risks of vinyl chloride during the 1970s and onward.”

A long safety record

The Vinyl Institute happily explained why that criticism is misguided. They noted, for instance, that the industry devised an innovative technique in the 1970s to remove residual vinyl chloride from PVC products, further reducing consumer exposure to the chemical. 

Manufacturers also began implementing a production process that all but eliminated worker exposure to VCM. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agrees. This technological development “greatly reduced atmospheric releases of VCM and almost completely eliminated worker exposures,” the agency explained in 1997.

Winters also learned that the US PVC industry has decreased total annual emissions of vinyl chloride by 74 percent while doubling its production volume over the last three decades. The Vinyl Institute recently honored 13 production facilities with its Environmental Excellence Award for their outstanding performance under the EPA’s strict emissions standards for air pollutants. 

The Biden Administration has also recognized the industry’s exemplary performance record. In November 2022, the Department of Labor publicly commended the Vinyl Institute for creating programs that “take safety and health seriously.”  

Activism masquerading as journalism

How much of this information did Winters include in history? None of it. Instead, the GRIST piece briefly quoted a statement that was already publicly available:

Ned Monroe, president and CEO of an industry trade group called the Vinyl Institute, said in a statement that his organization is “fully prepared to work with the EPA” during its vinyl chloride assessment, expressing confidence that the chemical will continue to be produced. “We believe this risk evaluation will further assure that the production of vinyl chloride and use of PVC products are safe,” he said.

Winters spent the rest of the piece amplifying misinformation about PVC from activist groups like Beyond Plastics, which we have refuted multiple times in just the last year.

Journalists have an obligation to report the whole story. Their job is to inform, not propagandize, the public. Winters paid lip service to this responsibility by including a single comment from the Vinyl Institute, but his gesture was clearly just for show. That’s a shame, because his readers walked away from his article needlessly alarmed about a low-risk chemical that actually makes their lives better.

Science Vs Hype: Fact-Checking Anti-Plastic Ideologues On PVC

PVC is a vitally important material. This versatile plastic expands access to life-saving medical care, delivers clean drinking water to millions of Americans and helps keep our food safe from harmful contamination. 

Unfortunately, a cohort of rabble-rousing activists is more interested in eliminating plastic than promoting public health. They’re utilizing science-free scare tactics to try and pressure the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) into banning vinyl chloride (VCM), a chemical with a proven safety record that’s used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC). 

For example, Liz Hitchcock, director of the federal policy program at Toxic-Free Future, declared:“If EPA follows the science and the law … they will be led to the conclusion that vinyl chloride is far too dangerous… and should be banned.” Echoing the same sentiment, Judith Enck, president of the billionaire-backed activist group Beyond Plastics, alleged “There is solid scientific evidence that vinyl chloride is a dangerous chemical.” Not to be outdone, The Union of Concerned Scientists claimed:

“…[T]he scientific evidence is overwhelming—vinyl chloride causes unacceptable levels of harm to human health and the environment, with impacts from its production to disposal.”

The evidence surrounding vinyl chloride is certainly overwhelming, but it’s no help to anti-PVC activists. Let’s take a closer look at what the science really says about this vitally important chemical.  

The facts about VCM

The first and most important question is this: how much vinyl chloride is the public exposed to? The reassuring answer is, “very little.” As we reported recently, removing VCM is part of the PVC manufacturing process. The residual quantities are so negligible that scientists often can’t detect vinyl chloride in finished PVC products consumers use every day. That’s just one of the reasons the National Cancer Institute says that “PVC is not a known or suspected carcinogen.”

The same can be said of environmental VCM exposure. According to the EPA, “outdoor air concentrations of vinyl chloride are generally quite low.”VCM can sometimes be detected in water, but at “very low levels,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adds. Crucially, the EPA concluded in 2014 that vinyl chloride has “low bioaccumulation potential,” meaning it is unlikely to build up in the human body and cause harm. 

Putting all this data together, the public’s exposure to vinyl chloride is so low as to pose no known risk to human health. 

Cancer risk “virtually eliminated”

Enck and other activists enjoy inciting hysteria by claiming vinyl chloride increases cancer risk. That’s highly misleading. The CDC has maintained for decades that a rare liver cancer once linked to industrial VCM exposure among workers during the manufacturing process has been “virtually eliminated.” 

This important public health achievement was driven by major improvements in the vinyl chloride manufacturing process in the 1970s “that greatly reduced atmospheric releases of VCM and almost completely eliminated worker exposures,” the CDC explains.  

Put another way, even workers who manufacture vinyl chloride aren’t in harm’s way. That’s a striking observation, and it prompts an obvious question: if the people who make VCM don’t face a meaningful risk, how can Enck and her allies insist that the public be scared of the chemical? 

The bottom line

Anti-PVC activists profess a commitment to science. But when faced with the option to follow the evidence wherever it leads, the groups attacking vinyl chloride quickly veer off course to preserve their ideological assault on plastics. Such people don’t deserve to be taken seriously.