Fact check: Vinyl chloride was banned in aerosols in 1974

Jun 17, 2023

A Feb. 22 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows an image of a woman's face and scribbled mathematical formulas.

"Trying to understand why a train was carrying over 300,000 gallons of a chemical that was banned in 1974," reads text included in the image.

The post was shared more than 1,100 times in seven days.

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The use of vinyl chloride in aerosols was banned in 1974, but it can still be used in other ways. Most vinyl chloride currently produced in the U.S. is used to make polyvinyl chloride, which is commonly used in plastic piping.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the use of vinyl chloride in aerosols on Aug. 16, 1974, when the chemical was still used in paints, paint removers, adhesives and solvents.

"Vinyl chloride has been linked by scientific studies and clinical reports to a rare form of liver cancer," reads a 1974 press release from the commission about the chemical. "Although there is no evidence directly linking cancer to the use of aerosols containing vinyl chloride, consumers are always subject to inhalation of the substance whenever they use aerosols that contain it. And there is no known safe exposure level."

The ban was put in place shortly after it was established that vinyl chloride was carcinogenic, Neil Donahue, a chemical engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told USA TODAY.

The National Institutes of Health states the compound is associated with several types of cancer.

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"To my knowledge, the only use of (vinyl chloride) that is specifically banned is this one use as a propellant," Donahue said.

Most vinyl chloride currently produced in the U.S. is used to make polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Polyvinyl chloride is commonly used in plastic piping and is also found in credit cards, furniture and car parts, as USA TODAY previously reported.

A preliminary report released Feb. 23 by the National Transportation Safety Board describes five derailed train cars carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride. Nearby residents were forced to evacuate when authorities performed a "controlled release" of vinyl chloride from those cars to mitigate the threat of an explosion.

The source for the post's claim that the train was carrying 300,000 gallons of vinyl chloride is unclear. Norfolk Southern did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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A lawsuit filed against Norfolk Southern, the company behind the derailment, claims that 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride were released into the environment. The law firm that filed the lawsuit based that calculation on the volume of the five cars carrying 8.6 pounds per gallon of vinyl chloride.

At least 247,000 gallons of liquid waste had been taken away from the site for disposal as of Feb. 17, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, though it doesn't say that is all vinyl chloride.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment.

PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

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