Vinyl Institute Comments on Cicalese et al.: “An Ecological Study of the Association between Air Pollution and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Incidence in Texas”

Response to the Comments on Cicalese et al.: “An Ecological Study of the Association between Air Pollution and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Incidence in Texas”

“…In response to the comments [1, 2] regarding the article by Cicalese et al, “An Ecological Study of the Association between Air Pollution and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Incidence in Texas” [3], the authors acknowledge minor editorial errors but stand behind the methodology and conclusions of the paper. There appears to be a misunderstanding concerning what these data and results suggest; we aim to clarify these points and respond to critiques that the authors knowingly published results based on limited assumptions.…”

“…Quoted material is reproduced from either the comments submitted to the editor [1, 2] (numbered) or the published paper [3] (bulleted).…”

“…To the many claims by Krock [1] of the Vinyl Institute, the authors provide the following responses:…”

“…“The latency period for angiosarcoma of the liver and HCC is much longer than the 7- to 13-year duration used in the study (36–48 years)” [1]. …”

“…The authors neglected to match HCC rates with NATA Texas counties reporting VCM [vinyl chloride monomer] emissions from point sources” [1]. …”