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 Making the Case Against PVC: The Healthy Building Network's "Must Read" List 1. PVC FACTS: Healthy Building Network HBN's factsheet is a quick introduction to the major environmental issues with PVC from the problems of its toxic additives, to the creation of dioxin, the most potent carcinogen known to science, during production and disposal. And it's fully referenced.2. Update on the Environmental Health Impacts of PVC as a Building Material: Evidence from 2000-2004 (PDF) by Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. for the Healthy Building Network In April, 2004, the Healthy Building Network submitted an update of the scientific evidence published since its December 2000 submission to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) on environmental health effects of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) building materials. The document is intended to serve as a reader's guide to the primary documents, reports, and data submitted to the USGBC's Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee (TSAC) in response to its November 2003 solicitation for evidence.3. Affidavit of Judith Schreiber, Senior Public Health Scientist with the New York State Attorney General's Office from the case Resilient Floor Covering Institute v. New York State (2003) (PDF) In 2003, the vinyl flooring trade group, Resilient Floor Covering Institute, dropped its lawsuit contesting New York State's refusal to grant a green building tax credit for vinyl flooring. Dr. Schreiber's affidavit cited a threedecade trail of studies from around the world demonstrating the adverse health effects to workers in vinyl chloride monomer and PVC production facilities, residents near those facilities, first-responders at fires involving PVC, and consumers living and working in buildings with PVC components.4. "Should We Phase Out PVC?" - Environmental Building News In this 1994 article, Environmental Building News provides background on the PVC issue and concludes by stating, "For builders and architects, our recommendation is to choose non-PVC applications where affordable and clearly superior products exist, but to keep an eye on the PVC debate."5. Environmental Impacts of Polyvinyl Chloride Building Materials: A Healthy Building Network Report, by Joe Thornton (2002) (Summary of findings, HTML version) This November, 2000 report exhaustively reviews the science behind the environmental health problems created through out the life cycle of PVC as used in building materials. Available in print.6. Final Rebuttal: Environmental Impacts of Polyvinyl Chloride Building Materials (PDF) - A Briefing Paper for the U.S. Green Building Council In this document, written by Joe Thornton, Ph.D., for the Healthy Building Network, Dr. Thornton analyzes and refutes each authority cited by the Vinyl Institute regarding the environmental impacts of PVC building materials. This is essential reading for anyone considering the merit of the vinyl industry's defense of PVC. This December, 2000 document is part of a comprehensive packet filed by the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems and the Healthy Building Network, in response to the U.S. Green Building Council's invitations for comments on proposed Materials Credit 9 for LEED Commercial Interiors.7. Pandora's Poison, by Joe Thornton (MIT Press, 2000) The British scientific journal Nature called Pandora's Poison a "landmark book which should be read by anyone wanting to understand the environmental and health dangers of chlorine chemistry." PVC production is the largest use of chlorine gas in the world, and PVC is the only major building material that is an organochlorine, a class of chemicals that have come under scientific and regulatory scrutiny because of their global distribution and the unusually severe hazards they tend to pose.8. The Economics of Phasing Out PVC (PDF) by Frank Ackerman, director of the Research and Policy Program, Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. Vinyl may have a cheap look and feel, but this report released by Tufts University researchers concludes the economic advantages of PVC are overstated, and that substituting PVC with safer alternatives is cost-effective and practical.9. Toxic Data Bias and the Challenges of Using LCA in the Design Community, by Tom Lent of the Healthy Building Network Current life cycle analysis (LCA) fails to address a range of toxic chemicals and their related human health issues. The report uses case studies to demonstrate how this problem can lead LCAs to improperly weigh environmental impact and give an apparent environmental blessing to materials with high toxic impact, including PVC. Recommendations are made for redesigning LCAs to account for these issues.10. Blue Vinyl: A Toxic Comedy With humor, hope and a piece of vinyl siding in hand, Blue Vinyl picks up where Judith Helfand's Peabody award-winning film A Healthy Baby Girl left off - to explore home, family, industry-sponsored science and a culture that pits economics against human health. Selected for the 2002 Environmental Messenger of the Year Award, Blue Vinyl has played a strategic role in the development of the phase out PVC movement, from a "consumer revolution" to new initiatives with fenceline and faith communities.Leading corporations from General Motors to Herman Miller, Kaiser Permanente to Nike are moving away from PVC.
Find out more about PVC-free solutions from HBN's Alternative Database.
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