New Documentary Recounts Devastating Impacts of Vinyl Chloride in East Palestine, Ohio
Environmentalists Call on the U.S. EPA to Begin the Process of Banning Vinyl Chloride, a Known Human Carcinogen
For Immediate Release: October 13, 2023
Contacts:
Melissa Valliant, Beyond Plastics — MelissaValliant@Bennington.edu, (410) 829-0726
Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics – JudithEnck@Bennington.edu, (518) 605-1770
The YEARS Project — an Emmy-award-winning media organization dedicated to storytelling about climate change — has released its latest documentary. The new film details the risks of vinyl chloride — the chemical used to create polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, plastic — and the damage it has done to East Palestine, Ohio, and nearby communities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Filmmakers on the ground had to wear gas masks while filming so they would not get sick. They also spoke to a scientist whose testing has shown residents had been far more exposed to dangerous chemicals than officials let on.
“Vinyl chloride’s risk to human health isn’t debatable — this film brings that truth to the surface in a way no one can ignore,” said Beyond Plastics’ Judith Enck. “Vinyl chloride is dangerous enough that the federal government has already banned it in refrigerants, aerosol propellants, drugs, and some cosmetics in 1974 — so why is this toxic chemical still in our homes, in PVC drinking-water pipes, and children’s toys? We don’t need another East Palestine, and it is time for the Biden administration to exercise its authority to protect public health, especially in communities where this toxic chemical is manufactured and transported. The plastics industry wants to double production in the next 20 years, which means an increase in the transport of toxic chemicals used to make plastic on our nation’s rickety rail system. The need to act now is quite urgent.”
The film features Beyond Plastics president and former EPA regional administrator Judith Enck, as well as Beyond Petrochemical executive director and former EPA regional administrator Heather McTeer Toney, and it urges the United States Environmental Protection Agency to ban vinyl chloride. Beyond Plastics points out that the EPA has legal authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act to ban vinyl chloride.
“If you still think petrochemical pollution doesn’t threaten you, you need to watch this film,” said Heather McTeer Toney, executive director of Beyond Petrochemicals. “This isn’t just an East Palestine story; people in Louisiana, Texas, and many other places are living this every day. These toxic chemicals are traveling through all of our communities and if we don’t stop the expansion of the petrochemical industry, more communities will suffer. What happened in East Palestine could happen anywhere.”
Vinyl chloride is a human carcinogen used almost exclusively to make polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, plastic. When the vinyl chloride in PVC burns, new toxic chemicals are formed, including dioxins — the most toxic chemical known to science. As a result, PVC is considered a significant threat to the health of firefighters. Since 2002, almost two out of three firefighters who died in the line of duty died of cancer, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters. Dioxins also persist in the environment for long periods of time, entering the food chain via soil and water.
"We can't wait to ban vinyl chloride. You can't slow-walk this. The livelihoods of Americans are dependent on the EPA doing their job and banning things that are giving people cancer," said Daniel Winston, former co-executive director of River Valley Organizing. "This video that was created by the YEARS Project, is a telling story that Americans and the World must considered with the usage of petrochemicals, I challenge every person to watch this video, and share it with everyone you know, this video could be the start of stopping horrible events like the East Palestine train derailment from happening in other parts of our country.”
The recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was a chilling example of the threat petrochemicals like vinyl chloride poses to Americans, but this toxic chemical has been impacting human health for decades. Many of the vinyl chloride and PVC production facilities in the United States are built along an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, where local residents are predominantly Black and low-income. Because rates of cancer in the area are higher than the American average, this river corridor has become known as “Cancer Alley.”
“In its new documentary film on East Palestine, The Years Project has done a yeoman’s job highlighting many intersecting issues that make the toxic chemical derailment a catalyst for inquiry and action,” said Almeta E. Cooper, national manager for health equity at Moms Clean Air Force. “The residents interviewed — including Moms Clean Air Force members — provide powerful examples of what is at stake. And as the advocates interviewed on camera make clear, now is the time to build support for an EPA ban on vinyl chloride, an incredibly toxic chemical used in plastic production. This toxic chemical poses a significant threat to our children's health, particularly in Black, Brown, and low-wealth communities. When children breathe in vinyl chloride, it can accumulate in their developing body tissue and set off a dangerous cascade of health effects including liver cancers, brain and lung cancers, lymphoma and leukemia.”
Banning vinyl chloride has been discussed for more than 40 years. Some companies have already said they will eliminate this harmful chemical in their products. In January 2022, the U.S. Plastics Pact (a group endorsed by 100 major consumer companies, including Walmart, Target, Unilever, Keurig Dr Pepper, General Mills, and more) made a voluntary commitment to stop using polyvinyl chloride in their plastic packaging by 2025. However, it is still widely used in drinking-water pipes’ building materials, packaging, children’s toys, and many consumer products.
"The East Palestine disaster was a canary in the coal mine for America," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus. "We were on the ground talking to Black, white, and low-income communities impacted by Norfolk Southern's climate disaster. This video is a reminder of the harm done by burning vinyl chloride and the work to cover it up that cannot continue in East Palestine, the Gulf South, or any other part of the country."
Vinyl chloride wouldn’t be the first hazardous chemicals used in plastic products to be banned. For example, phthalates — chemical additives that make PVC plastic more durable — have been restricted from children’s toys in the United States, the European Union, and many nations around the world.
"You can ride the story of East Palestine, Ohio, on a rickety rail line and it will lead you straight into the dangers of the ever-growing plastic industry," said Jess Conard, Appalachia director at Beyond Plastics. "Every day we wait to ban vinyl chloride puts anyone near a train track at risk for another chemical disaster. It is time for the 'P' in U.S. EPA to be put to use to protect the people and environment."
The full version of the documentary can be found here.
About Beyond Plastics
Launched in 2019, Beyond Plastics is a nationwide project that pairs the wisdom and experience of environmental policy experts with the energy and creativity of grassroots advocates to build a vibrant and effective movement to end plastic pollution and promote alternatives to plastics. Using deep policy and advocacy expertise, Beyond Plastics is building a well-informed, effective movement seeking to achieve the institutional, economic, and societal changes needed to save our planet and ourselves, from the negative health, climate, and environmental impacts for the production, usage, and disposal of plastics.
The YEARS Project
The YEARS Project is a multimedia storytelling and education organization whose mission is to inform, empower and unite the world to act on climate change. YEARS started as a television series called Years of Living Dangerously, the Emmy-winning first docuseries on climate produced by James Cameron. It featured captivating firsthand accounts of the impacts of climate change, including reporting from icons like Harrison Ford, Matt DamonandDavid Letterman. Tens of millions of people tuned in to watch the series. Starting in 2016, the YEARS team transitioned to short-form video storytelling, garnered more than a billion views and built the largest digital audience dedicated to the climate crisis, with a following in the millions. They recently started Inside the Movement, a toolkit for the climate movement that puts all the action in one place.
