1.1 What is vinyl acetate? |
1.2 How might I be exposed to vinyl acetate? |
1.3 How can vinyl acetate enter and leave
my body? |
1.4 How can vinyl acetate affect my health? |
1.5 Is there a medical test to determine
whether I have been exposed to vinyl acetate? |
1.6 What recommendations has the federal
government made to protect human health? |
1.7 Where can I get more information? |
References |
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July 1992 |
Public Health Statement |
for |
Vinyl Acetate |
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This Public Health Statement is the
summary chapter from the Toxicological
Profile for vinyl acetate. It is one in a series of Public
Health Statements about hazardous substances and their health
effects. A shorter version, the ToxFAQs™,
is also available. This information is important because this
substance may harm you. The effects of exposure to any hazardous
substance depend on the dose, the duration, how you are exposed,
personal traits and habits, and whether other chemicals are
present. For more information, call the ATSDR Information
Center at 1-888-422-8737.
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This Statement was prepared to give you
information about vinyl acetate and to emphasize the human
health effects that may result from exposure to it. The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has identified 1,177 sites on its
National Priorities List (NPL). Vinyl acetate has been found
at 3 of these sites. However, we do not know how many of the
1,177 NPL sites have been evaluated for vinyl acetate. As
EPA evaluates more sites, the number of sites at which vinyl
acetate is found may change. The information is important
for you because vinyl acetate may cause harmful health effects
and because these sites are potential or actual sources of
human exposure to vinyl acetate.
When a chemical is released from a large
area, such as an industrial plant, or from a container, such
as a drum or bottle, it enters the environment as a chemical
emission. This emission, which is also called a release, does
not always lead to exposure. You can be exposed to a chemical
only when you come into contact with the chemical. You may
be exposed to it in the environment by breathing, eating,
or drinking substances containing the chemical or from skin
contact with it.
If you are exposed to a hazardous substance
such as vinyl acetate, several factors will determine whether
harmful health effects will occur and what the type and severity
of those health effects will be. These factor include the
dose (how much), the duration (how long), the route or pathway
by which you are exposed (breathing, eating, drinking, or
skin contact), the other chemicals to which you are exposed,
and your individual characteristics such as age, sex, nutritional
status, family traits, life style, and state of health.
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1.1
What is vinyl acetate? |
Vinyl acetate is a clear, colorless liquid.
It has a sweet, pleasant, fruity smell, but the odor may be
sharp and irritating to some people. You can easily smell
vinyl acetate when it is in the air at levels around 0.5 ppm
(half a part of vinyl acetate in 1 million parts of air).
It readily evaporates into air and dissolves easily in water.
Vinyl acetate is flammable and may be ignited by heat, sparks,
or flames. Vinyl acetate is used to make other industrial
chemicals (such as polyvinyl acetate polymers and ethylene-vinyl
acetate copolymers). These other chemicals are used mostly
to make glues for the packaging and building industries. They
are also used to make paints, textiles, and paper. The Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that vinyl acetate
may be safely used as a coating or a part of a coating that
is used in plastic films for food packaging, and as a modifier
of food starch.
Vinyl acetate does not occur naturally
in the environment. It enters the environment from factories
and facilities that make, use, store, or dispose of it. When
vinyl acetate is disposed of at waste sites or elsewhere in
the environment, it can enter the soil, air, and water. Vinyl
acetate will break down in the environment. The half-life
(time it takes for 1/2 of the chemical to break down) for
vinyl acetate is about 6 hours in air and 7 days in water.
We have no information on how long vinyl acetate will stay
in soil.
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1.2
How might I be exposed to vinyl acetate? |
Industrial facilities, accidental spills,
contact with products that contain vinyl acetate, and hazardous
waste disposal sites are possible sources of exposure to vinyl
acetate. The most important way that you can be exposed to
vinyl acetate if you live around factories that make, use,
store, and dispose of vinyl acetate on site or if you live
near waste sites in which vinyl acetate or products that contain
vinyl acetate have been disposed, is by breathing air or drinking
water that contain it. You can also be exposed to vinyl acetate
by skin contact with products that were made with vinyl acetate,
such as glues and paints. Exposure can also occur through
ingestion of food items that were packaged in plastic films
containing vinyl acetate or food items that contain vinyl
acetate as a starch modifier. However, exposure to vinyl acetate
occurs mostly in the workplace. Workers can breathe in the
chemical when they are making it or using it to make other
chemicals. Workers can also have skin contact with vinyl acetate
solutions. It has been estimated that about 50,000 workers
employed at about 5,000 plants are exposed to vinyl acetate
in the United States.
Background levels of vinyl acetate in
water, soil, or food have not been reported. However, vinyl
acetate has been detected in water and soil from hazardous
waste sites on the NPL. It has been measured in the air in
industrial areas of Houston, Texas at a level of about 0.5
ppm.
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1.3
How can vinyl acetate enter and leave my body? |
Vinyl acetate can enter your body through
your lungs when you breathe air containing it, through your
stomach and intestines when you eat food or drink water containing
it, or through your skin. Studies in animals show that most
of the vinyl acetate taken in through the nose or mouth enters
the body almost immediately. We have no information on how
fast it will enter your body tissues once it gets on your
skin. Based on information obtained from animal studies, once
vinyl acetate is taken into your body through your nose or
mouth, vinyl acetate or its breakdown products may quickly
be distributed throughout the body and removed. Studies in
animals indicate that vinyl acetate is quickly broken down.
Most of the vinyl acetate taken into your body leaves in your
breath within a few days in the form of carbon dioxide. Small
amounts of the vinyl acetate taken into your body also leave
in your urine and feces as break down products.
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1.4
How can vinyl acetate affect my health? |
People who were exposed to vinyl acetate
in air for short periods complained of irritation to their
eyes, nose, and throat. One in nine volunteers who breathed
air containing 4 ppm of vinyl acetate for 2 minutes had throat
irritation. Several volunteers exposed to 72 ppm of vinyl
acetate in air for 30 minutes reported coughing and hoarseness
and eye irritation. No health effects were found in workers
who were exposed to levels around 10 ppm of vinyl acetate
in work room air for an average of 15 years of employment.
However, we do not know if health effects would occur in people
exposed to low levels for longer periods.
Exposure to high levels (around 1,000
ppm) of vinyl acetate in air for a couple of weeks caused
irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs of laboratory
animals. Vinyl acetate at levels around 200 ppm caused irritation
to the respiratory tract and nose when it was breathed by
rats and mice for up to 2 years. In this same study, damage
to the lungs (congestion and increased lung weight) was seen
in rats at 200 and 600 ppm and in mice at 600 ppm vinyl acetate.
Studies with animals also suggest that breathing vinyl acetate
may affect the immune system and nervous system. The extent
and way in which vinyl acetate affects these systems is not
well understood.
There is no evidence that vinyl acetate
causes cancer in humans. Vinyl acetate caused tumors in the
noses of rats that breathed 600 ppm for 2 years. The International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that vinyl
acetate is possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B).
We have no information on health effects
in humans exposed to vinyl acetate in contaminated food or
water. Information from animals exposed to vinyl acetate in
drinking water suggest that the immune system might be affected
at very high levels.
There is no information to show that
birth defects or low birth weights occur in humans exposed
to vinyl acetate. No birth defects were seen in the offspring
of animals that were exposed to vinyl acetate during their
pregnancy. Pregnant animals exposed to high levels of vinyl
acetate in drinking water or air produced offspring which
were smaller in size than normal. These effects to the offspring
were seen at the same level that caused reduced weight gain
in pregnant animals. This suggests that the smaller size of
the offspring may be due to the reduced weight gain in the
pregnant animals and may not be a direct effect of vinyl acetate
on the developing animal.
People who had a mild (2%) solution of
vinyl acetate put on their skin for 48–72 hours did not show
signs of skin irritation. However, vinyl acetate has caused
skin irritation and blisters in workers who accidentally spilled
it on their skin. More concentrated solutions of vinyl acetate
have caused reddening, blisters, and corrosion to the skin
of rabbits. The effects of continual or repeated skin contact
with vinyl acetate or products that contain vinyl acetate
over a long time are not known.
Exposure to vinyl acetate in air or direct
contact with vinyl acetate solutions has caused irritation
to the eyes. Several volunteers exposed to 72 ppm of vinyl
acetate in air for 30 minutes reported eye irritation that
lasted up to 60 minutes after exposure. Accidental contact
of the eye with concentrated solutions of vinyl acetate has
caused reddening and irritation to the eyes of workers. Symptoms
were relieved after flushing the affected eye with water.
We know of no cases in which permanent eye damage resulted
after such contact. Rabbits that had very high concentrations
of vinyl acetate put in their eyes for a short period also
showed irritation and reddening to the eyes.
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1.5
Is there a medical test to determine whether I have been exposed
to vinyl acetate? |
No test is currently available to measure
vinyl acetate in your blood, urine, or body tissues. Because
vinyl acetate breaks down very quickly to substances that
are normally found in your body, measurements of these breakdown
products are not useful for showing whether you have been
exposed to vinyl acetate. The symptoms caused by exposure
to vinyl acetate can also occur for many other reasons. Therefore,
they can not be used as proof of vinyl acetate exposure.
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1.6
What recommendations has the federal government made to protect
human health? |
The federal government has set standards
and guidelines to protect people from the possible health
effects of vinyl acetate. EPA requires that any company that
spills more than 5,000 pounds of vinyl acetate into the environment
report the spill to the National Response Center.
To protect workers, the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a limit of
10 ppm vinyl acetate in workroom air during an 8-hour shift
and over a 40-hour work week. The American Council of Government
Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) also recommends that workers
should not be exposed to more than 10 ppm vinyl acetate in
workroom air during an 8-hour shift and over a 40-hour work
week. OSHA has also set a short-term exposure limit (STEL)
in work room air of 20 ppm for a 15-minute exposure period.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) recommends that exposure to vinyl acetate should not
exceed 4 ppm in workroom air for any 15-minute exposure period.
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1.7
Where can I get more information? |
If you have any more questions or concerns, please contact
your community or state health or environmental quality department or:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Toxicology
1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop F-32
Atlanta, GA 30333
Information line and technical assistance:
Phone: 888-422-8737
FAX: (770)-488-4178
ATSDR can also tell you the location of occupational and environmental health
clinics. These clinics specialize in recognizing, evaluating, and treating illnesses
resulting from exposure to hazardous substances.
To order toxicological profiles, contact:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Phone: 800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000
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References |
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry (ATSDR). 1992. Toxicological
profile for vinyl acetate. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
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