Vinyl Chloride Angiosarcoma and Cancer Lawsuits

Angiosarcoma, Liver Cancer and Brain Cancer

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Angiosarcoma, Liver and Brain Cancer

Who is Exposed to Vinyl Chloride?

Environmental and Industry Regulation

Vinyl Chloride Lawsuits

Vinyl Chloride Health Risks

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Vinyl chloride has been linked to several rare diseases. The medical literature most closely links vinyl chloride exposure to angiosacroma and primary liver cancer. Both of those diseases rarely arise without exposure to this gas. Additionally vinyl chloride is the only known carcinogen that can cause brain cancer (Brain cancer itself has many unknown causes).

Angiosarcoma

Angiosarcoma is a rare cancer that can affect many areas, originating in the liver, breast, spleen, bone, or heart. In people exposed to vinyl chloride very often the liver. The disease is consists of malignant cells that rapidly grow and reproduce. themselves by infiltrating cells in blood vessels and the lining of blood-filled spaces in the body. The cancer is very deadly

In the United States angiosarcomas account for only 1% of all soft tissue cancers. Each year there are only about 60 newly diagnosed cases of soft tissue angiosarcoma. This translates into a less than one in a million chance.

According to the medical science the largest risk is exposure to vinyl chloride used in the plastic industry. Workers exposed are 400 times more likely to get angiosarcoma than anyone in the general population

These findings have been recognized since a 1974 study of exposed workers

Angiosarcomas can take a long time to develop. After exposure to vinyl chloride the "latency period" can be anywhere from 5 to 35 years. That means many retired workers may now be at risk for this disease.



Brain Cancer

According to medical studies, besides vinyl chloride there are no chemicals or environmental agents known to cause brain tumors. Some people believe magnetic or electrical fields can cause them, but this link is still unproven.

Primary brain tumors, meaning those that start in the brain itself represent only 2%-3% of all cancer cases in the united States. Brain cancer is extremely difficult to treat because of its location within the skull and is considered one of the deadly forms of cancer. Each year there are about 18,000 new cases of adult primary brain cancer and about 14,000 deaths.

Workers who have been exposed to vinyl chloride have been documented victims of this deadly cancer.



Liver Cancer

Liver cancer that starts or originates inside the liver itself is called primary liver cancer. Most liver cancers arise from cancer that spreads from other parts of the body, often the colon, pancreas, stomach, lung or breast This spreading is called metastases. Since the liver processes blood it is a common target for metastases to attack.

Primary liver cancer is considered rare and is often the result of chemical exposures.

Liver cancer has two main forms called: Heptoma and cholangiocarcinoma. Heptoma is cancer of the main cells of the liver called the hepatocytes. Primary liver cancer is Hepatoma which starts in the liver sphere or ball shaped tumor, that attacks the healthy cells around it.



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