Workers at the Plastic Chemical company Vinatex based in Staveley, were told that Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) the raw ingredient in making PVC was "perfectly safe", they were told they could touch it, smell it and even taste. This was despite earlier research revealing the hazards of VCM. Liver abnoralities were found in workers at a Soviet plastic factory in 1949 and laboratory research in 1971 found the VCM could cause angiosarcoma (liver cancer) even at low concentrations.

In 1997 former Vinatex workers approached the Trade Union Safety Team (TRUST) because they were experiencing a variety of ill-health problems. TRUST decided to take the initiative and look more closely at the situation. TRUST in conjunction with Simon Pickvance of Sheffield Occupational Advisory Service and Professor Andrew Watterson, who at the time worked for De Montfort University in Leicester set up a comprehensive research study to look at the range and incidence of ill-health amongst former Vinatex workers. TRUST began a process of locating workers and a dedicated team of volunteers interviewed workers in depth about the jobs undertaken at Vinatex and their ill-health problems. A cohort of 162 people took part in the study, 157 men and 5 women.

The health survey revealed that the levels of breathlessness of former Vinatex wokers are much higher than those reported in the Health Survey for England. The report also revealed greater problems with mental processes, more akin to those found in exposure to occupational sovents rather than expected in the general population. There were also high percentages of Raynaud's phenomenon (vascular disease causing numbness and tingling in the extremeties), Acro-osteolysis (bone destruction) and scleroderma (skin thickening). The most alarming and unexpected finding was the number of bladder cancers. The report identified 5 bladder cancers, which is far more than expected in the normal population. Soon after the launch of the report, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewing mortality statistics found an excess of bladder cancers amongst UK VCM workers. However, more research is needed to prove this link. Angiosarcoma of the liver is the only known cancer to be associated with exposure to VCM.

It is not only VCM workers who have complained of these symptoms but also PVC workers who heat and mould plastics. VCM can be released at relatively low temperatures. More care needs to be taken of these workers, who have added problems of using dyes to colour PVC products.