FOCUS: US PVC under fire in consumer goods

19 June 2007 17:04  [Source: ICIS news]

By Brian Ford

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is under attack from activist groups in the US who claim the product is hazardous in many common applications, but sales remain strong, sources said on Tuesday.

Publicity surrounding the use and disposal of consumer items has already convinced major retailers and manufacturers including some of America’s best known trade names like WalMart and Apple computers to cut down on their use of the plastic.

Activists such as Mike Schaed, PVC coordinator for the Centre for Health, Environment & Justice claim the product is unsafe.

They say the use of PVC in consumer items ranging from baby bibs to shower curtains raises widespread health concerns that can no longer be ignored by large corporations.

“There is really no way to ‘green’ PVC,” Schaed said.

One major concern is PVC packaging, he said, which emits dioxins - suspected human carcinogens - when burned in municipal incinerators.

“We’re not saying we want to put the entire plastics industry out of business,” Schaed said, but suggested that safer plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate could be used.

Spokesman Allen Blakey for the Vinyl Institute, a trade organisation representing PVC manufacturers, blamed growing unease about the consumer reactions to the plastic on “fear mongering” rather than facts.

“It is a reaction to public opinion, not actual harm,” Blakey said, claiming that PVC has been used safely and reliably for decades.

“For every activist statement that so-and-so is getting out of PVC, there are a lot more announcements of positive use of the material,” Blakey said.

One such example is California, he said, which recently approved the use of chlorinated PVC in residential plumbing.

In the US, demand for PVC rides the waves of the construction industry, which represents more than 80% of the domestic PVC market, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC).The remaining amount goes into automotive materials, electronics and consumer products, Blakey said.

But it is in just those applications that PVC has come under attack in recent years.

Last month, Target Stores executives heard from shareholders urging the leading retailer to stop selling products or packaging with PVC.

“Target claims to be an environmentally-friendly retailer, and yet their shelves are filled with products made fro PVC, the poison plastic,” said Lois Gibbs, executive director of the Centre for Health, Environment & Justice.

Mike Schaed said more than 40,000 customers have contacted Target since October in an effort for halt the retailer’s sales of children’s products with PVC and other items such as shower curtains.

Target president Gregg Steinhafel responded that the large US retailer would reduce items containing PVC as it finds “great alternatives” for the material.

“We would say the activist group was not successful,” Blakey said, noting that Target made no commitment to reduce the use of items with PVC.

Also in May, the attorneys general of New York and Illinois announced that Wal-Mart had agreed to stop selling certain baby bibs made with PVC as a result of a safety warning issued by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The commission warned there was a potential risk of lead exposure from baby bibs with cracked or peeling vinyl surfaces, claiming pieces of vinyl containing lead could pose a hazard to infants if swallowed.

The states’ attorneys general said WalMart also agreed to support the development of a voluntary industry standard to eliminate PVC from all products intended for use by children.

Blakey said there were no known instances of children being harmed by the baby bibs, nor was it known how the lead got into the bibs.

Lead is used as a stabiliser in PVC used mainly for behind-wall electrical insulation, but it can be replaced by safer stabilisers such as zinc and calcium, Blakey said.

In a similar move last month, some shareholders of toy company Hasbro filed a proxy resolution urging the company to stop using PVC, and to produce a sustainability report on the issue.

Shareholders eventually rejected this resolution--which was also opposed by company management--but activists said nearly 45% of shareholders endorsed the resolution.

Apple Computers said recently it planned to eliminate the use of PVC in its products by the end of 2008. Apple said it began to phase out PVC 12 years ago.

Shareholders of nationwide retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond on 10 July will consider a proposal for the company to file a report on which of its products may be affected by PVC health safety concerns, and to outline what options can be taken by the company.

Bed, Bath & Beyond’s board of directors has recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal, noting that its stores stock more than 50,000 separate items and that the company does not manufacture the items.

By: Brian Ford
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