Vinyl Chloride Production 1954 BF Goodrich Company

Vinyl is a synthetic plastic material that has the most uses compared to any other plastic in the world. In 1926, the BF Goodrich Company accidental discovered vinyl chloride (VC), then found many uses and soon products made from VC started entering the market in a big way. The 1930s saw the entry of many vinyl coated umbrellas, raincoats, etc into the markets. After this, vinyl was used in the manufacture of sealants for auto shock absorbers, thus finding usefulness in the auto industry as well. In the 1940s, there was an acute scarcity of natural rubber because of the war, thus vinyl was used as a coating for wires and proved to be an excellent substance for insulation of wires. However, industry studies in the 1950s revealed harmful health effects of vinyl chloride exposure, but this knowledge was suppressed and misrepresented for several decades. Industry experiments in laboratory animals, as early as the 1950's, found evidence of harm but officials did not initially disclose the findings. PVC manufacturers also delayed release of study results showing that rodents exposed at levels much lower than the allowable workplace exposure limits developed liver sarcoma. Then in February 1974, the CDC reported the death of four tire plant workers who were employed at the same B.F. Goodrich factory in Kentucky. The cluster of deaths was unusual-each of the four men succumbed to an extremely rare form of liver cancer known as hepatic angiosarcoma. The company's medical staff identified vinyl chloride, a chemical used in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), as the cause of the cancer. Public concern grew once the report surfaced. Thousands of workers were being exposed to high levels of a substance whose toxicity had come to light. Once news of vinyl chloride's risks surfaced, OSHA-not even four years old at the time- sprang into action. Less than three months after the publication of the CDC article, the agency issued an emergency temporary standard lowering the permissible exposure level for vinyl chloride from 500 parts per million (ppm) to 50 ppm.20 The following month, OSHA proposed a permanent rule that would reduce the exposure level to 0 ppm. Industry groups protested, claiming such a standard would put plastics manufacturers out of business. As a slight compromise, OSHA's final standard allowed manufacturers to maintain no more than a 1 ppm air concentration of vinyl chloride. The entire rulemaking process took nine months. Manufacturers were easily able to comply with the rule after B.F. Goodrich developed a system to sequester the chemical and prevent worker exposure.
Vinyl chloride is a powerful example of the success of OSHA health regulation. When OSHA proposed a regulation to reduce worker exposure to vinyl chloride, manufacturers roundly denounced the rule, predicting that it would wreck the industry. Yet, months after the 1975 vinyl chloride regulation went into effect, the magazine Chemical Week described an industry rushing to "improve existing operations and build new units" to meet increased market demand. The Sept. 15, 1976, issue reported that producers "have installed the equipment needed to meet the worker-exposure requirements set by [OSHA], but without inflating production costs to the point where PVCs growth might be stunted. In the early 1980s, the Congressional Office of Technologic Assessment (OTA) confirmed that the vinyl industry actually spent only a quarter of OSHA's original estimate to comply with the standard. The new technology designed to meet the standard actually increased productivity. OTA also examined eight OSHA standards and found in almost every case, the cost was a fraction of OSHA's estimate, and did not have an adverse effect on the industry. For more on the history of vinyl chloride, read the 2002 book Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner. Their book details the attempts by the chemical and lead industries to deceive Americans about the dangers that their deadly products present to workers, the public, and consumers. This is clipped from the 1954 film, Man-Made Miracles, a film about the development of synthetic rubber and vinyl chloride by the BF Goodrich Company.

[@qbasic16]

Boy that derailed quickly...

[@cleettaurus8637]

What a train wreck right? 😂

[@Welcome2It]

You know it’s safe when they have to make a cute cartoon about it

[@tent4607]

Not so safe actually

[@N1ghtH4wk86]

Ohio is getting a full dose of this

[@johnnyjoevazquez]

But what happens when you burn it?

[@N1ghtH4wk86]

@@johnnyjoevazquez mustard gas

[@johnnyjoevazquez]

@@N1ghtH4wk86 of course..

[@Michael-lg4wz]

I dont get why burn it, a cover up?

[@audiolego]

@@N1ghtH4wk86 serious?? That's realllyyyy bad woww.

[@sunvavachi]

I love these old school videos

[@soothsayer2406]

Yeah terrific stuff for PVC...spilled over all of East Palestine OH (2023) and Manatua Creek NJ (2012)

[@niocalsgreogiro]

The correct title should have been Generation of Vinyl Chloride to produce the polymer Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

[@brubanville690]

Today, the most often utilized method of making vinyl chloride compounds is through catalytic reaction of byproducts of the oil refinement process. When these byproducts are forced into reaction with other petroleum distillates a large amount of vinyl chloride compounds are produced. When these compounds are burned and the resulting gases react with water in the atmosphere a large amount of hydrogen chloride is produced which will then fall back to the ground as it is emulsed into rain water droplets forming acid rain and the resulting runoff will go on to poison streams and rivers.

[@wannabecarguy]

Let me guess...the sky is falling? I remember when sudam set the oil fields on fire. Some how it had no impact on the environment.

[@brubanville690]

@@wannabecarguy my point is that this administration will use this situation to further demonize the use of fossil fuels in all of their manifold applications. On another note, if you don't believe this will have any impact on the environment whatsoever then why don't you go there and drink the water and eat the crops that will be grown in the soil.

[@marshmower]

Who cares

[@TheWizardGamez]

ill raise you stupid cheap PVC pipes tho

[@InflatablePlane]

What a cool little film. The drill sergeant molecule was super cute lol.

[@boejiden8784]

Yeah super cute

[@loganbrown3565]

"a vast array of new products which contribute to the safety, comfort, and beauty of our daily lives"

[@bouffant-girl]

Very informative and understandable! Lime stone must be similar chemically to calcium carbide in order to react with water to generate acetylene,but I'm not 100% sure due to not being a chemistry major! I find chemistry to be fascinating, but was unable to successfully understand traditional chemistry curriculum, due to congenital, possibly genetic, dyscalculia.

[@hebrewisraelitescharleston843]

Also Moses was black❤❤ you heathen

[@lukejtmulder]

Personification of chemical synthesis, awesome.

[@APH1able]

What is the catalyst and the softener; also what are the implications in regard of organic mater; biological life, human life?

[@technologic21]

Prob mercuric chloride that chemically bonds with vinyl chloride in its liquid form. The fire dept went in full hazmat, masks with 02 tanks. Real healthy stuff.

[@GaahKojitani]

you can put the caption option? ty

[@chenzhang1876]

WONDERFUL

[@technologic21]

Vinyl chloride (H₂C=CHCl) is a colorless, highly flammable substance that evaporates very quickly. It can form a hard plastic resin used for PVC pipes, wire coatings, vehicle upholstery, and plastic kitchenware. Exposure is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.

[@nicktravisano2704]

This aged well

[@SomethingSomethingAirsoft]

we all know why we are here.

[@marshmower]

Naw why. To learn? Couldn't be that. 😂😂😂

[@Nicole_CS]

Classic ❤

[@aslendermammal8547]

This didn't age well

[@aestaxia]

Can anyone tell me what the sergeant catalyst says between 1:00-1:06?

[@joop912]

Ohio brought me here

[@nuclearblackhole]

History lesson kids

[@hebrewisraelitescharleston843]

Polyvinyl materials, comes from very simple beginnings: salt, water, Limestone... Coke?😮😮

[@c_lo01]

This makes me feel like this is the steps of what is gonna happen in the next coming months and years to follow with this ohio thing. A plastic planter farm just burned for hours on end in florida. So is this gonna create some type of floating toxic plastic net naked to the human eye?

[@jee-hx7ug]

GOOD

[@CultofThings]

Who is this for?

[@kevin-bf4ww]

1 million decibels

[@muxaffarally9042]

Great but too litlle information ...include the container where it is made and the globular intermediats and finally the finished goods

[@Machi74005]

Refrigerator gaskets

[@jasontiscione1741]

It's a little known fact that vinyl chloride polymerization does not liberate hydrogen gas in cartoons.

[@WD3AHHLK]

مكسرات اوهاويو 🎥🎆

[@phuckugoofleplus7542]

so wtf was the catalyst

[@SanonPierre]

Most likely petroleum. 🤷‍♂

[@bouffant-girl]

Crude oil and natural gas are sources of feedstock for this chemical compound synthesis, and the synthesis of any chemical compound with at least one carbon atom in it's respective chemical structure.

[@sashek8451]

😭😭😭😭😭

[@marcc1667]

A material that will contribute to the death of us all...

[@soundspark]

Fast forward to February 2023...

[@Rebecca-1111]

This comment aged very well!

[@marshmower]

Everything must be banned so we can live in the dirt. People are so ignorant

[@joedirt5521]

And cancers, on allot of people

[@jamescho6024]

coke??

[@InflatablePlane]

James Cho coke is coal with all the additives and chemicals cooked out. Literally coal with the smoke taken out. Also used as fuel for blast furnaces in steel production.

[@bouffant-girl]

Traditional blacksmithing also utilities coke, which is converted from coal in the coal/coke fired blacksmithing forge,which is a relatively small open hearth forced-air blast furnace used to heat the metal so that it is pliable enough to be shaped by special hammers,and other specialized tools.

[@jaycee9153]

Coke occurs when you add a drill Sergeant to your cola.

[@co2_os]

I'm from Ohio though, White boi

[@marshmower]

I appreciate this video. I could not find anything educational on the topic. -just fearmongerging bs.

[@markdcatlin]

This video from a VC manufacturer does not mention the cancer risk from exposure to this chemical. The chemical companies producing VC new of the dangers in the 1950s, from worker exposures, but chose not to reveal that information.

[@mrpeanutbutter6094]

This age very bad