You gotta check out this video from the Center for Health, Environment and Justice about the hazards of PVC in the bath. It's very well done. Sam Suds, P.I. (poison investigator) is a cartoon detective who's searching for poisonous PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic in his client's home. He calls PVC "the poison plastic" because it releases poisonous chemicals (phthalates) linked to cancer and birth defects. He finds it in the bathroom - in bath toys and the shower curtain.
And I thought rubber duckies were made of, well, rubber. Guess not. According to Sam we should "look for the 3, don't buy PVC". So, I took Sam's advice and looked around my bathroom. I've got a lot of bath toys, but none of them had any recycling code on them. However, they almost all said "Made in China". Hmmmm....
I did a little sleuthing myself and found out that most kids toys are not required to label types of plastic used. I also learned that PVC is still very common in Asian manufacturing plants. So how can you tell if it's PVC?
- That icky plasticky, vinyl smell is a dead giveaway
- PVC tends not to return to its original shape immediately after being twisted or squashed
- Packaging may contain the words vinyl or PVC
- The #3 or V (for vinyl) recycling code
A number of large companies (including Wal-Mart, believe it or not) have committed to phase out PVC in their stores. Target has NOT and you can take action by sending them an e-mail message asking them to phase out the poison plastic, as part of the PVC Action Network campaign. I did. It took less than a minute.
If you want to know more, this Smart Plastics Guide is worth taking a look at. Also check out my previous post about polycarbonate plastic (Nalgene) water bottles for more info on plastics to watch out for.
By the way, Ikea is a good resource for non-vinyl shower curtains - cute, cheap and safe! They are one of the companies that have already committed to a phase-out of PVC!
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