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Jennifer Beth Sass,¹ Barry Castleman,² and David Wallinga³

¹Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC, USA; ²Environmental Consultant, Garrett Park, Maryland, USA; ³Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Abstract
When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its 2000 update of the toxicological effects of vinyl chloride (VC) , it was concerned with two issues: the classification of VC as a carcinogen and the numerical estimate of its potency. In this commentary we describe how the U.S. EPA review of VC toxicology, which was drafted with substantial input from the chemical industry, weakened safeguards on both points. First, the assessment downplays risks from all cancer sites other than the liver. Second, the estimate of cancer potency was reduced 10-fold from values previously used for environmental decision making, a finding that reduces the cost and extent of pollution reduction and cleanup measures. We suggest that this assessment reflects discredited scientific practices and recommend that the U.S. EPA reverse its trend toward ever-increasing collaborations with the regulated industries when generating scientific reviews and risk assessments. Key words: angiosarcoma, cancer, corporate, EPA, industry, IRIS, polyvinyl chloride, PVC, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, vinyl chloride. Environ Health Perspect 113: 809-812 (2005) . doi:10.1289/ehp.7716 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 24 March 2005]

Address correspondence to J.B. Sass, Natural Resources Defense Council, 1200 New York Ave. NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005 USA. Telephone: (202) 289-6868. Fax: (202) 289-1060. E-mail: jsass@nrdc.org

We gratefully acknowledge funding for this work from the Beldon Fund.

J.B.S and D.W. are employed by environmental nonprofit organizations with an interest in ensuring that regulations of toxic chemicals are as health protective as feasible. B.C. is an independent consultant in toxic substances control and has no competing financial interests regarding the subject matter of this paper.

Received 1 November 2004 ; accepted 24 March 2005.

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