ARLINGTON, Va., May 24, 2007 (VNS) – The safety of PVC in consumer products is well established and has been confirmed by numerous government health and safety agencies in the US and worldwide over many years, according to a new study released today by the Vinyl Institute.

The study, conducted by the nonprofit Environmental Health Research Foundation (www.ehrf.info), was commissioned by the Vinyl Institute to examine charges made by some activist groups that PVC may be harmful to health or the environment.

Most recently, the charges were repeated in a brochure distributed outside Target stores by activist groups allied with the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ). The brochure is titled “Way off Target, A Critical Assessment of Target’s PVC Products & Packaging.”

In fact, the brochure is not a critical assessment but a series of misleading statements with no scientific basis, according to the Foundation’s report.

It notes that “scientific studies conducted over the past 10 years…have not confirmed any of the claims nor provided any evidence of adverse impacts on human health or the environment from use of PVC.”

The study cites extensive scientific data confirming the safety of PVC production, use and disposal, including its widespread use in consumer and medical products.

It notes that many of the statements in the CHEJ brochure are simply repeats or restatements of previous claims, all of which have been repeatedly refuted by the relevant government agencies.

“Nowhere in the CHEJ report or the data cited is harm to public health or the environment demonstrated,” the Foundation concludes.

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