Re: Vinyl chloride odor

[DrBillC@aol.com]

  Jon, and the list:
  
  You will notice that there is not a single number in your posting.  Your
  citation is anecdotal, the language is speculative and there is no monitoring
  data. Nowhere in the citation does it say that you can smell vinyl chloride
  as a result of contact with  normal articles.  I grant you that it implies
  that VCM is congruent with "new car smell."  To answer your question: Yes.
   They are as uninformed as you are.
  
  First, the odor of VCM is quite different than the odor of "shower curtains".
  
  Second, Do the calculation.  PVC resin contains about 2 ppm VCM, plus or
  minus.  Put a 6 mil thick, 6 x 6 shower curtain that's about 53% resin in an
  8 x 8 x 8 bathroom and make the following assumptions:
  
  1)  All the VCM from the resin remains in the shower curtain, and none is
  removed in the heat of processing (unlikely, and conservative).
  
  2)  All the VCM degasses in that bathroom (highly unlikely at room
  temperature, given number 1).
  
  3)  No air changes.
  
  The answer is about 18 ppm on a weight basis and about half that on a volume
  basis.  This is well below the odor threshold of thousands of ppm by the most
  conservative estimates.  Please see Alex Sagady's posting to the list.
  
  If what you said is true, all those who work in PVC fabricating areas would,
  by law, be monitored for VCM.  They are not.  Why?  Because it's been done,
  and none was found.  If those workers aren't exposed, the people who buy the
  articles they fabricate aren't.
  
  Jon, you may think me corrupt, immoral, or any other value-laden terms that
  make you feel superior to me.  I am not, however, stupid.  Challenging me on
  a physical, verifiable fact that is so fundamental to my nearly twenty years
  experience in an industry with which you have no familiarity is tactically
  unwise.  You're wrong, Jon.  Physically, verifiably wrong.  Others on the
  list have tried to tell you this.  I tried to tell you privately in a
  civilized manner.  You responded inappropriately.
  
  Bill Carroll
  Chlorine Chemistry Council