Connection of Vinyl Chloride and Angiosarcoma
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Vinyl Chloride was known to cause a number of health problems for decades before it was known to cause angiosarcoma. The federal government was aware that Vinyl Chloride could pose a health risk, so it regulated that workers could only be exposed to 500 parts per million (ppm) in a day. Angiosarcoma takes decades to develop, so initial studies concentrated on more obvious conditions such as liver disease and degenerative bone disorders. In the late 1960s the connection between Vinyl Chloride and angiosarcoma has proposed when doctors discovered that workers at a B.F. Goodrich polyvinyl chloride plant who were exposed to above average rates of the chemical exhibited significantly higher rates of liver angiosarcoma. More research was performed after this initial discovery, for it seemed odd that so many workers in one place would suffer from such a rare disease by coincidence.
Scientists struggled to pinpoint the exact mechanism by which VC caused liver angiosarcoma, but most proposed that as VC was inhaled it was transferred to the bloodstream, where the liver attempted to filter it. Failing that, the chemical caused serious mutation in liver cells, resulting in angiosarcoma. Up to that time vinyl chloride was used in a variety of manufacturing and industrial uses, but the mystery was solved when researchers found that another profession with equally high rates of angiosarcoma was the hairdressing industry. The connection puzzled scientists and doctors until they realized the common thread: like the Goodrich workers, beauty shop workers used aerosol cans which used vinyl chloride as a propellant. In the aftermath of the angiosarcoma debacle, the government revised its original protective measures to limit VC to one part per million per day.
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