That smell of a new car may fill you with joy, but don't whiff too deeply. That's the smell of leaching chemicals from vinyl PVC.
PVC is a cheap material that manufacturers find easy to use for a number of products. The problem; however, is that the real cost is much higher.
PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride. It is also known as vinyl. It is a pliable plastic that is used in a variety of products ranging from shampoo bottles, shower curtains, toys, and many building materials. PVC vinyl is often used as flooring, siding, and even the covering of electrical wires in a house. Unlike many other plastics, PVC cannot be recycled. In fact, one PVC item can contaminate the rest of plastics being recycled and render them useless. Despite their toxicity, manufacturers continue to use PVC because it is flame resistant, versatile -- and most of all cheap.
PVC poses a particularly high health risk when it is used as a building material. According to a research article published in volume 129, issue 5 of the American Journal of Epidemiology, firefighters were exposed to PVC chemicals after a fire in Plainsfield, New Jersey. They reported severe symptoms after exposure. When PVC burns it creates dioxin and hydrogen chloride. Both of these chemicals are highly toxic. Dioxin; specifically, is linked to cancer and reproductive problems. It is actually possible to die from inhaling the toxic fumes caused from the PVC burning rather than the fire itself.
PVC poses both a health and environmental risk whether it is being produced, used by consumers, or being disposed of. It releases mercury, dioxins and pthalates into the environment.
Pthalates are particularly harmful to children who typically chew on toys at a young age. In a study published in volume 112, issue 14 of the Environmental Health Perspectives journal, it was found that pthalates caused allergic symptoms in children just in the range of the amount of pthalates that are typically found in a home. PVC has become so prevalent in products and the home that it is not uncommon to find the chemicals associated with PVC in the dust of homes. However, with awareness and a change of buying habits, this could begin to be reversed.