Controlling risks
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Prolonged high exposure to VCM is carcinogenic. At a concentration of about 7%, VCM can render a person unconscious and they may stop breathing unless they are resuscitated quickly.
In the 1970s, the industry discovered that years of exposure to high concentrations of VCM in the workplace could cause a rare cancer, angiosarcoma of the liver. By the mid 1970s, the production process was significantly changed so that it has become a virtually closed process, reducing the potential for workers to be exposed to VCM. Since then, no worker who began employment in the industry after the mid 1970s is known to have contracted the disease.
Worldwide, the industry continues to monitor and report for incidence of the specific liver cancer.
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