A scientific basis for the risk assessment of vinyl chloride. Developed jointly by the members of the Committee on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Substances, National Health Council of The Netherlands.

In July 1984 the Minister of Welfare, Public Health and Culture, representing the Dutch government, sent a request to the Health Council of The Netherlands to advise on the health risks presented by environmental exposure to several carcinogenic substances. One of these substances was vinyl chloride (VC). On the basis of a working document prepared by the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Hygiene, a committee of the Health Council of The Netherlands prepared a report concerning a health risk assessment of VC which was published in May 1986. A short review is presented of the available data and the considerations that formed the basis for the risk assessment of the carcinogenicity of VC to humans. The advice was based mainly on human data from epidemiological studies of workers occupationally exposed to VC. The committee concludes that continuous exposure to 0.001 mg/m3 VC corresponds to an additional cancer mortality risk of 10(-6) per lifetime. The Dutch government considers this additional risk to the general population to be acceptable.