The history of plastics goes back more than 100 years - however, compared to other materials, plastics are relatively modern. Their usage over the past century has enabled society to make huge technological advances to take us towards the new Millennium.

Pre-20th Century although we think of plastic as a modern invention, there have always been "natural polymers" such as amber, tortoiseshell and horn. These materials behaved very much like manufactured plastics and were often put to similar uses to today's materials - for example, horn, which becomes transparent and pale yellow when heated, was used to replace glass in the 18th century. The original breakthrough for the first semi-synthetic plastics material – cellulose nitrate - occurred in the late 1850s and involved the modification of cellulose fibers with nitric acid. Cellulose nitrate had many false starts and financial failures following its invention by a Briton, Alexander Parkes, who exhibited it as the world's first plastic in 1862. Firstly known as Parkesine, then Xylonite, it began to find success in the production of objects such as ornaments, knife handles, boxes and more flexible products such as cuffs and collars. The American Hyatt brothers were attempting to develop a substitute for the ivory billiard ball and in so doing came up with a process for manufacturers using a nitrate cellulose composition. Celluloid was thus born and was patented in 1870 - its early commercial success lay in dental plates for false teeth.

In 1912, German chemist Fritz Klatte at Greisheim Electron unknowingly made the first PVC in an attempt to create uses for large quantities of acetylene gas fuel lamps just before the new technology of electric lights made them obsolete. He had reacted acetylene with hydrochloric acid (HCl). Not knowing what to do with the new material, it was stored for some time, and polymerization took place. Their patent expired in 1925 without them ever knowing what to do with it. Independently, in 1926, chemist Waldo Semon at the American company B.F. Goodrich invented PVC. And again, it was patented.

One of the first uses for PVC was insulation on electric cables in 1930. Mass production, facilitated by improved injection molding, and automation, greatly reduced its price. PVC has been commercially available since 1942. By 1950, there were five companies producing PVC. And by 1980, there were twenty. Today, vinyl is the second largest-selling plastic in the world, and the industry employs more than 100,000 people in just the US. PVC is the second largest volume thermoplastic only to polyethylene. Production capacity has almost doubled over the last 20 years, currently 27 million tons/year worldwide. Current worldwide uses of PVC by percent are as follows: Building 56%; Packaging 15%; Consumer goods 10%; Electronics industries 9%; Agriculture 5%; others 5%.

Health Hazard

Dioxin is created during all phases of PVC production, as well as in its disposal by incineration or accidental fire. There is no "threshold" dose, meaning that the lowest dose that has hormonal action has not been found yet. Researchers have been unable to find the threshold using the most up-to-date advanced systems.

PVC plastic is the largest single use of chlorine in the U.S., accounting for about 34 percent of all chlorine production. In 1996, the US and Canada alone produced 6.61 million tons of PVC and copolymers. A large body of evidence suggests that the greatest share of the nation's dioxin burden stems from the manufacture, use, recycling, and disposal of this enormous quantity of PVC plastic.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has known since the 1980's, that dioxin is an unavoidable by product created during the production and heating or incineration of many materials containing chlorine such as PVC and paper. One can be fairly safe in assuming that the PVC industry's knowledge of dioxin being created by the manufacture of was prior to that of the EPA. Since they continued to manufacture PVC even after knowing this, it is therefore an intentional action placing profits above people. Industry also knows that PCBs are an unavoidable byproduct of PVC production.

Dioxin has been found in PVC process waste in concentrations as high as 200,750 parts per billion (ppb), which compares closely with that found in Agent Orange production wastes. Making the production of PVC free of dioxin is highly unlikely. One industry officially stated in 1994, "It is difficult to see how any of these conditions could be modified so as to prevent PCDD/PCDF formation without seriously impairing the reaction for which the process is designed." PVC is the largest single use of chlorine in the US, and is most likely the largest source of the dioxin in the US. It accounts for about 34 percent of all chlorine production.

According to the EPA, incineration of municipal and medical waste, which is heavily loaded with PVC, is the largest source. Dioxin has no commercial value and is extremely toxic, long-lived and ubiquitous in both the environment and our bodies. It is hormonally active in concentrations as low as 5 parts per trillion (ppt). The EPA has labeled dioxin a known carcinogen.

It is also unavoidable when PVC is incinerated or heated. PVC is the largest contributor of the world's dioxin burden and it is highly persistent in the environment, traveling up the food chain, and accumulating in body fat.

Much of the discarded PVC is burned knowingly in municipal incinerators or accidentally in building fires, sending minute but extremely potent quantities of dioxin into the air. How to prevent the creation of dioxin when certain organic materials are incinerated in the presence of a source of chlorine (PVC and other chlorinated materials) and oxygen is still unknown. When airborne this potent chemical travels a few feet or thousands of miles. After making its way to the upper atmosphere, it condenses in colder regions of the globe. According to a study by Barry Commoner at Queens College, CUNY, dioxin concentrations in Inuit mothers' milk are twice the levels observed in southern Quebec, even though no significant sources of dioxin are located nearby.

In 1994, the nonprofit organization Green peace sampled the sediment downstream the discharge of the Geon Corporation (formerly BF Goodrich) in La Porte, Texas. They found it to contain a dioxin concentration of greater 2,911 parts per trillion (ppt). This is about five times higher than what the EPA reported in their draft dioxin reassessment. From that reading, Green peace estimates that the quantity of dioxin discharged into U.S. waterways from EDC/VCM facilities may rival that discharged from all U.S. pulp and paper mills.

The lipophilic nature of dioxin allows it to be readily assimilated in the lipid (fat) stores of plants and animals. It rapidly enters the food of all creatures on earth. Bioaccumulation is the result of its presence and persistence at many locations on the web of life. It is not broken down in the systems of various organisms, and is accumulated in the organism that consumes it. The pace of accumulation increases with the level of the organism on the food chain.

The higher level, the more organisms of the lower levels it must consume to survive. Because humans are at the top of the web of life, we accumulate the most dioxin, PCBs, and other bioaccumulating contaminants. Children are at an even higher level than their parents.

Effects

Sexual ambiguity of both internal and external genitalia, cryptorchidism (testicular maldescent), hypospadias, cleft phallus, suprainguinal (cryptorchid) ectopic testes, abnormal spermatogenesis, lowered sperm count and motility, genital abnormalities, deformed and reduced penis, abnormal concentrations of steroid and peptide hormones instrumental in reproduction, reduced levels of testosterone, elevated levels of estradiol-17ß, males born with neutral or female genitalia, 20-year-old women dying of breast cancer.

Mothers:

All mothers have had many years of exposures. Many of the chemicals accumulate faster than they are cleared and are attracted to the fatty cells of the body. When pregnant, these stored toxins can affect the embryo in a number of ways. It is now understood that the placenta does not protect the embryo from all harm. It acts as an efficient barrier to bacteria, but not to most synthetic chemicals. Some cross the placenta with ease, some are changed into even more toxic chemicals called metabolites, and others damage the functioning of the placenta.

Dioxin is just one of hundreds of contaminants stored in the mother's fat. It is consumed by nursing infants at a rate of 35-100 pg/kg (picograms per kilogram of body weight per day. A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram). The World Health Organization's acceptable daily intake of dioxin is 1-4 pg/kg. The EPA "Risk Specific Dose" is 0.01 pg/kg, which is 10,000 times lower than that the nursing child receives.

Fathers:

Dioxin is also stored in the father's fatty tissues. Dioxin is what made Agent Orange such a nightmare for Vietnam vets and their offspring. Its legacy continues today in US veterans, Vietnamese citizens, and their offspring, decades after its use.

It and many other contaminants can cause problems related to his sperm that are passed on to the child. Besides lowering the quantity and quality of sperm, the DNA carried by the sperm can be damaged, the sperm can be coated in toxins, and the semen entering the vagina can carry the toxicants that are flowing throughout the body of the father. His own sperm production could have been limited while he was an embryo. Decreasing sperm counts in many industrialized nations are about 1.5% annually.

Children:

Considering the facts above, it follows that our children that take the largest hit of dioxin, PCBs, and other toxic chemicals that are the result of the manufacture, use or disposal of PVC and other synthetic chemicals and products.

Dioxin is the most powerful endocrine disruptor (ED). An ED is generally a manmade synthetic chemical that has been proven to have many deleterious effects on the endocrine system of animals by mimicking, blocking, and/or disturbing in some other way, the messages of hormones that guide the complex processes of the endocrine system. There is no human hormone that dioxin does not disrupt.

Accidental building and forest fires release some unknown quantities of dioxin. In the case of the building fires, the creation of dioxin is from the abundant supply of PVC materials in and on the building. The windows, flooring, garden hoses, raincoats, umbrellas, toys, wall and floor coverings, furniture, and all the other PVC items in a building add up to a significant source of chlorine to be burned. In the case of forest fires, the dioxin originated with the advent of chlorinated chemicals and did not exist in the massive quantities recorded today. This fact is borne out because of the analysis of mummies showing little or no traces of dioxin. Therefore, it is not true when Industry states that forest fires are the cause of dioxin and that dioxin has always been on earth in great quantities.

History of Plastic

The first patent for PVC was registered in 1914. Cellophane was also discovered during this period.

The 1920: In 1922 a German chemist, Hermann Staudinger, made a discovery, which would change the whole face of the plastics industry.

1922: first spectacles molded in cellulose acetate (in France)

The 20s saw the production of the first moldable light-colored plastic, made by combining carbon dioxide and ammonia with formaldehyde.

The 1930: Two developments during the 30s swept the plastics industry into mass production. Firstly, manufacturers learnt how to produce plastics from petroleum - polystyrene, acrylic polymers and polyvinyl chloride were all made in this way. Secondly, injection molding, which had always been

The 1940: World War II meant a huge boost for plastics. As a domestically generated resource which had by this time become relatively cheap, plastic was able to take over from imported materials. In terms of design technology, consumer products benefited from the new techniques which had been developed out of necessity during the war.

The production of plastics which are still used widely today - such as polyethylene, polystyrene, polyester, PET and silicones - all grew during the wartime period. Silicones, for example, became widely used as water repellants and in heat resistant paints.

Nylon, the first totally man-made fiber, had been discovered at the end of the 20s, but was not put to great use until the 40s. Consisting of long filaments which could be spun and woven or knitted, the new plastic was used to make everything from parachutes to upholstery.

Polyethylene was first discovered in 1933, but it was in the 50s that the material really took off thanks to a new, safer production method. The new material, which had a high melting point and could be used where other plastics had failed, was used for dustbins, baby baths and chemical containers. It was also the material behind one of the most famous symbols of suburban life: Tupperware.

The 1950: During the 50s plastics became a major force in the clothing industry. Polyester, Lycra/carolen and nylon were easy to wash, needed no ironing and were often cheaper than their natural alternatives and, as a result, were hugely popular with consumers tired of the tyranny of housework.

The 1960: In a decade renowned for its emphasis on style and fashion, the fact that plastics had become highly developed was a huge advantage. This led to the introduction of a range of innovative new products in the fashion world, including soft and hard foams with a protective skin, wet-look polyurethane and transparent acrylic. Home decor also benefited, where eccentric designer furniture such as inflatable chairs and acrylic lights became "must haves" for fashion-conscious consumers.

1960 saw the first use of PVC to bottle mineral water.

The first domestic items made from molded polypropylene were developed from 1963 onwards - including combs, lemon squeezers and bottle stoppers.

Vinyl chloride monomer

Vinyl chloride monomer (VC) is a gas that is currently produced in the United States by 10 companies at 12 facilities, which are as follows: Westlake Monomers Corporation in Calvert City, Kentucky; Borden Chemicals and Plastics in Geismar, Louisiana; Dow Chemical in Oyster Creek, Texas, and in Plaquemine, Louisiana; Georgia Gulf Corporation in Plaquemine, Louisiana; PPG Industries in Lake Charles, Louisiana; Vista Chemical Company in Lake Charles, Louisiana; The Geon Company in La Porte, Texas; Formosa Plastics Corporation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and in Point Comfort, Texas; Occidental Chemical Corporation in Deer Park, Texas; and Oxymar in Ingleside, Texas. VC was used as an aerosol propellant and as an ingredient of drug and cosmetic products such as hair sprays, until the EPA banned it in 1974.

Monomers are very reactive and biologically aggressive. The health effects of VC are many. It is toxic in the short- and long-term. It is an immunotoxicant, reproductive toxic VC is a known human carcinogen, and has been associated with tumors of the liver, brain, lung, and hematolymphopoietic system. There is a causal association to angiosarcoma of the liver. Exposure to VC also causes other forms of cancer, such as melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, brain tumors, lung tumors, and malignancies of the lymphatic and hematopoietic system. Exposure to PVC dust was associated with an increased incidence of lung tumors. There are slightly elevated risks for gastric and gastrointestinal cancer (other than liver cancer).

When inhaled, VC can induce pulmonary adenomas and adenocarcinomas, mammary adenocarcinomas, liver angiosarcomas, and angiosarcomas and adenocarcinomas at other sites in mice of both sexes. Inhalation of VC induced Zymbal gland carcinomas, nephroblastomas, and liver angiosarcomas in rats of both sexes and mammary tumors and hepatocellular carcinomas in female rats. When administered by inhalation, VC induced skin tumors in male hamsters and angiosarcomas (liver, spleen, or skin), mammary carcinomas, skin carcinomas, and stomach adenomas in female hamsters. Newborn rats developed angiosarcomas and hepatomas when exposed to VC by inhalation. A combination of oral administration of ethanol and inhalation of VC resulted in more liver tumors (including angiosarcomas) than after treatment with VC alone.

VC has been found as a degradation product of chloroethylene solvents (perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene) and in landfill gas and groundwater at concentrations up to 200 mg/m3 and 10 mg/L, respectively. Worldwide occupational exposure to VC still seems to be high in some countries (e.g., averages of approximately 1,300 mg/m3 until 1987 in one factory), and exposure may also be high in others where VC is not regulated. By combining the most relevant epidemiologic studies from several countries, we observed a 5-fold excess of liver cancer, primarily because of a 45-fold excess risk from angiosarcoma of the liver (ASL). The number of ASL cases reported up to the end of 1998 was 197 worldwide. The average latency for ASL is 22 years. There is a 600% increase in the risk for seminoma, one type of testicular cancer, among plastic workers exposed to PVC.

Recycling

Of the tens of millions of tons of PVC manufactured each year, practically none is recycled. According to the American Plastics Council, in 1995, less than less than 2 hundredths of a percent was recycled. Much of it makes its way to landfills of less fortunate countries such as India. Even the .02% that is recycled isn't done so in the true sense of the word. In this case, recycling means to use over a few times before being discarded in any number of ways including incineration or land filling.

Switch to PVC-free materials

Hoping to avoid litigation, many major corporations are now eliminating the use of PVC. Proctor and Gamble, Mattel, LEGOs, Little Tikes (Newell Rubbermaid),[55] Baxter[56] and several others have made this commitment.

More than 80% of the IV bags used in the U.S. are PVC plastic manufactured mainly by Baxter Healthcare Corp., Deerfield, IL, and Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL. In 1999, Baxter announced that they would develop an alternative to PVC products. Greenpeace and Health Care Without Harm, a coalition that includes hospitals, nurses' organizations and the American Public Health Associations placed a large amount of pressure on Baxter to get them to make this decision. They went so far as to own about 100,000 shares of Baxter stock.

Even the American Chemical Society believes that PVC should not be used in medical equipment. In a Chemical & Engineering News article, they stated that “[b] alancing the slight harm to the vinyl chloride industry and the availability of cost-effective alternatives against studies--albeit ambiguous--that show potentially harmful health effects to humans dictates a prudent switch to non-PVC, DEHP free alternatives.”

Many municipalities across the US are banning PVC or strongly recommending that it be phased out. It is banned for use by retail food vendors in Rahway, NJ. CPVC pipe for construction is banned in Lake-in-the-Hills, IL. VC and organizing are migrating from PVC pipes into the water supply in Kansas. The Washington State Department of Ecology issued a "call to action" 'to virtually and permanently eliminate all releases of toxic, persistent and bio-accumulative chemicals into the state's environment (land, air and water) by 2025.' Berkeley and Oakland's City Council passed resolutions to reduce dioxin wherever possible. Oakland has urged health care institutions to reduce PVC use and eventually become PVC-free'. San Francisco has adopted a resolution to eliminate dioxin wherever possible. The Marin County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to eliminate dioxin emissions, promoting less-toxic, non-chlorinated, sustainable alternative products and processes, such as chlorine-free paper and PVC-free plastics, to the extent possible, and urges Marin health care institutions to reduce PVC use and eventually become PVC-free, and will send a letter to Marin-based health care institutions to encourage them to phase out the use of PVC products without sacrificing patient care or worker safety.

One of seven goals of Health Care without Harm (HCWH) is to “phase out the use of PVC plastics and persistent toxic chemicals.” There are about 250 HCWH member organizations in more than 30 countries. Including many hospitals, unions, environmental organizations, and professional associations such as the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Council of the Chicago Medical Society, the Minnesota Medical Association, the California Medical Association, the American Nurses Association

Harm to Workers Exposed To PVC

There is a six-fold increase in the risk for seminoma, one type of testicular cancer, among plastic workers exposed to polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

In September 1973, the US Department of Health Education and Welfare, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) determined that air contaminants generated by the thermal cutting of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) packaging films in conjunction with the wrapping of meat are potentially toxic to some meat wrapping employees PVC meat wrap. At that time this would have had an effect on 75,000 meat-wrapping employees in the United States, according to union and industry estimates. The testing by NIOSH found hydrogen chloride (HCl) as one of the air contaminants generated by the hot wire cutting of PVC film in the meat wrapping. Other contaminants included chlorinated hydrocarbons and breakdown products of film additives.

NIOSH's predecessor the Bureau of Occupational Safety and Health began getting complaints about PVC wrap from meat wrappers in the summer of 1969, and continued coming from several cities across the nation at least until the time of the NIOSH report cited.

“Sixteen of the eighteen meat wrappers interviewed in the preliminary survey were known to have suffered ill effects from air contaminants from PVC films. Only two workers were free of any clinical symptomatology. Eight had similar case histories and admitted experiencing varying degrees of sneezing, rhinorrhea, and eye irritation. Most individuals gave a like story that the ill effects came on from one to three hours after the commencement of meat' wrapping it the morning. The workers stated that as the workday progressed the prodromal manifestations increased. in intensity. The sneezing, rhinorrhea, rind threat and eye irritation would abate in the evening hours and would be non-existent during weekends and vacations.”

In 1974, the FDA was considered revoking the "prior sanction" for use of polyvinyl chloride in food packaging and ban its use for packaging alcoholic beverages because of the migration of VC. "Trade secret" considerations prevented the investigations that were needed.

A 1997 study found that while the food and water intake of VCM cannot accumulate in hazardous quantities, inhalation in workplace (heat cutting and sealing of PVC wrap) settings can accumulate VCM in the blood to form carcinogenic and mutagenic metabolites.

Ethylene dichloride

The largest single use of EDC, also known as 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,2-DCE, C2H2Cl2, is the production of VC used to produce PVC. EDC can also be used in the manufacture paint removers, pharmaceuticals, electronics, metal degreasers, aerosols, and urethane foam. In test animals, EDC decreased litter size, decreased fertility, disrupted estrous cycle, increased incidence of congenital cardiac lesions, increased incidence of testicular lesions, and increased embryo mortality significantly decreased antibody-forming cells of the spleen. Acute (short-term) inhalation exposure of humans to EDC can induce neurotoxic, nephrotoxic, and hepatotoxic effects, as well as respiratory distress, cardiac arrhythmia, nausea, and vomiting. No information is available on the reproductive or developmental effects of EDC in humans. EDC is metabolized into epoxides by enzymes, which can yield dichloroacetaldehyde (DCAld), dichloroethanol, and dichloroacetic acid. It is categorized by the EPA as a Group B2 probable human carcinogen, and by IARC as a Group 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans). All forms of EDC usage in agriculture, including pesticides and fumigants, are banned in 5 countries (Austria, Belize, Canada, Slovenia and the United Kingdom) and in the European Union.

Other Toxicants with Similar Actions

EDC Metabolites

One of the metabolites of EDC, dichloroacetic acid, is also one of the metabolites of trichloroethylene (TCE). Because of the pervasiveness of TCE in the environment, most people are likely to have some exposure via one or more of the following pathways: ingestion of drinking water, inhalation of ambient air, or ingestion of food. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a survey of various industries from 1981 to 1983 and estimated that approximately 401,000 U.S. employees in 23,225 plants are potentially exposed to TCE. Relatively little information is available in regard to environmental levels and exposure. Background exposure to related compounds may influence the effect of small incremental exposures of TCE. Releases of TCE into the environment occur during its manufacture, use, and disposal. The major use of TCE is as a degreaser for metal cleaning operations. It is also used in paint stripper, adhesive solvent, ingredient in paints and varnishes, in the manufacture of organic chemicals, silk screening, taxidermy, electronic cleaning, wood stains, varnishes, finishes, lubricants, adhesives, typewriter correction fluids, paint removers, and cleaners. More data are needed on the levels of TCE in private wells, indoor air, soil, food, blood across all ages, and mother's milk.

Vinyldene chloride (VDC)

VDC is used to make Saran-type (Johnson Wax, Racine, Wisconsin) plastics and as a degreasing agent. It has contaminated groundwater in many areas, and is ranked 11th among the hazardous chlorinated organic compounds found in US drinking water. 50% of the US population obtains their drinking water from a groundwater source. The major method of drinking water disinfection in the United States is by chlorination. Monochloroacetic acid (MCA) is formed as a result of chlorination of drinking water for disinfection and can be present at concentrations of approximately 1 µg/l. Coexposure of humans to these chemicals is possible. VDC and MCA are both hepatotoxic and interact with each other. VDC causes centrilobular necrosis of the liver and the elevation of serum enzymes, indicating hepatocellular damage. In animal studies of VDC that included MCA, there was a significant increase in VDC hepatotoxicity. Fasting and other conditions can enhance the injury caused by VDC, putting the poor at greater risk.

References