Reports on the Hazards of PVC
The environmental and health threats posed by PVC’s production, use, and disposal are well documented in numerous reports. Below you will find links to some of the most comprehensive sources on PVC’s toxic lifecycle.
Note – Most of these materials are Adobe Acrobat PDF files. If you don’t have Adobe Acrobat or Reader, click here to download this free software.
Volatile Vinyl: The New Shower Curtain’s Chemical Smell
A new laboratory study commissioned by CHEJ found the familiar “new shower curtain smell” may be toxic to your health. The study found one PVC shower curtain can release as many as 108 volatile organic chemicals into the air. Some of these chemicals can cause developmental damage as well as damage to the liver and central nervous, respiratory, and reproductive systems.
Read the report and supporting materials
PVC: Bad News Comes in 3′s
The Poison Plastic, Health Hazards and the Looming Waste Crisis
written by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice & the Environmental Health Strategy Center
- Download PVC, Bad News Come in Threes, the Poison Plastic, Health Hazards & the Looming Waste Crisis
- Executive Summary of PVC Report
- Top Ten States Incinerating PVC waste
- Top Ten States Landfilling PVC Waste
- Major Findings of PVC Report
- National PVC Consumption Trends Chart
Top Ten Reports and Resources on PVC Hazards
- Affidavit of the NY Attorney General’s toxicologist on the hazards of PVC
- Aggregate Exposure to Phthalates
- Birds of Prey
- Blue Vinyl – a toxic comedy
- Economics of Phasing Out PVC
- Environmental Impacts of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Building Materials
- In Strictest Confidence – the Chemical Industry’s Secrets
- Message in a Bottle: The Impacts of PVC on Plastic Recycling
- Update on the Environmental Health Impacts of PVC as a Building Material: Evidence from 2000-2004
- Volatile Vinyl: The New Shower Curtain’s Chemical Smell
Other Useful Reports and Resources on PVC Hazards
- Phthalates in baby crib mattresses
- Body Burden – the Pollution in People
- Breathing Poison
- The Burning Question, Chlorine and Dioxin
- Chlorine, Combustion, and Dioxins
- Deceit and Denial
- Dioxin Contamination in Mossville, Louisiana
- Dioxin Factories Exposed
- Dioxin From Cradle to Grave
- Environmental Impacts in Communities Adjacent to PVC Production Facilities
- Environmental Issues of PVC
- How to Find and Avoid Vinyl in Your Home
- Lead and Cadmium in Children’s Vinyl Products
- Moving Towards Sustainable Plastics
- My House Is Your House
- Phthalates in Neonatal Intensive Care Units
- Profile of Formosa Plastics
- PVC Fires List
- PVC Toy Report Card – 2003
- Sick of Dust – Chemicals in Common Products
- Toxic at any Speed
- Toxic Transformers – A Review of the Hazards of Brominated and Chlorinated Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment
- Trade Secrets
- Trouble in Toyland
- Vinyl Chloride: A Case Study of Data Suppression and Misrepresentation
- Volatile Vinyl: The New Shower Curtain’s Chemical Smell

