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Abstract
Vinyl chloride monomer is a known cause of angiosarcoma of the liver. It also has
other toxic effects on the liver, and it has recently been suggested that exposure
to vinyl chloride also causes hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the data on which
this conclusion is based is incomplete. There is inadequate ascertainment of unequivocal
diagnoses. In the largest studies lack of data meant that confounding diseases such
as viral hepatitis or alcoholic liver disease could not be assessed. At best, the
increase in risk is minimal, based on more than 22,000 exposed workers and more than
640,000 person years of observation. However, based on the available data the hypothesis
that vinyl chloride causes or contributes to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma
remains unproven.