East Palestine activists, along with environmental organizations like Beyond Plastics, Beyond Petrochemicals and Greenpeace are calling on the EPA to ban vinyl chloride.

The group will hold an event on July 27 in Washington D.C. to speak about the chemical's health risks  before meeting Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator in the EPA office Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

The event will be at 11:30 a.m. at the EPA's headquarters on 1200 Pennsylvania Ave.

Beyond Plastics say they plan to hand over signed petitions demanding the banning of the chemical.

Vinyl Chloride is a chemical used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. It's used for vinyl siding, windows, packaging and more.

The International agency for Research on Cancer considers it a group 1 carcinogen with links to causing liver cancer and is associated with lymphoma.

According to a news release from Beyond Plastics, when the vinyl chloride in PVC burns, new toxic chemicals are formed, including dioxins - the most toxic chemical known to science.

"The February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was a chilling example of the threat petrochemicals like vinyl chloride poses to Americans, but this toxic chemical has been impacting human health for decades," the release said. "The five train cars that were set on fire contained vinyl chloride."