woman&home Magazine Misleads on PVC Yoga Mats

woman&home Magazine Misleads on PVC Yoga Mats

 

A recent article from Woman & Home Magazine made a series of inaccurate claims about PVC yoga mats. We reached out to the editors at Woman & Home Magazine to inform them of their mistakes but they ignored us. We have a responsibility to make sure the consumers have the facts. So we are publishing the correction we sent to Woman & Home Magazine:


 

Ms. Lauren Hughes
Senior Content Editor
Woman & Home Magazine

Dear Ms. Hughes,

It has come to our attention that your article [“How to pick the right yoga mat for you, whatever your budget and ability” published October 10, 2020]  contains several factual errors.

The story contains the following quote from Jamie Kent of Yoga Download:

“The main material to try to avoid when purchasing a yoga mat is PVC, which stands for polyvinyl chloride. Many everyday yoga mats are made from PVC, which is a toxic plastic. PVC has been classified as a human carcinogen and is harmful to the planet. This material does not break down easily and its toxins can be bioaccumulative, meaning tiny pieces build up in our bodies.” 

Ms. Kent’s claim that PVC is classified as “a carcinogen” is categorically false. PVC has never received any such classification by any other authoritative source. In the story, no source is provided for this claim. To ensure readers have the facts, we request that this statement be removed immediately

Additionally, she is wrong to claim that PVC is ‘a toxic plastic.’ PVC is an inert material that has never been demonstrated to pose any human health risks as a result of exposure to PVC yoga mats. Her claim is misleading to readers and should either be corrected or removed.

It’s also worth noting that many of the alternative materials referenced in the have serious health and environmental downsides that are not acknowledged in the piece. For example, cork contains large amounts of methylene chloride, a highly toxic extractable, which has been described as a probable human carcinogen by the US Environmental Protection Agency. And rubber can take 50-80 years to decompose naturally

These errors and oversights are made even more egregious by the fact that Woman & Home did not seek or publish a comment from anyone with an opposing view. Woman & Home purports to be “impartial, thorough and accurate,” to “speak to credible experts,” and to “verify all stories being published.” This is why we find it disappointing that neither the Vinyl Institute nor any other vinyl industry organization was offered an opportunity to offer a comment about PVC in connection with this story.

Nevertheless, we would like to offer the following comment for inclusion in the piece so that readers have both sides of the story: 

PVC is an inert material that has been rigorously studied for decades. It has been used safely in consumer and commercial products for more than 50 years. PVC yoga mats are durable, safe, easy to clean, and affordable for users. It’s no wonder PVC yoga mats are widely considered to be one of the most resilient and innovative options available on the market today.

We look forward to your reply.

 
 

Andrew Whelton’s Plastic Pipe Study Fails the Grade

Andrew Whelton’s Plastic Pipe Study Fails the Grade

 

Any valid scientific study must, first and foremost, represent real world conditions within a controlled study environment to generate meaningful, accurate and reliable results. 

We’ve touched on this topic before. But a quick look at a study by Andrew Whelton, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering, shows he failed to meet this basic standard. The study claims to assess the impacts on water quality from damaged plastic pipe after the wildfires from Northern California. Whether Whelton’s long-standing bias against plastic influenced his methodology and conclusions is unclear. What is clear is that his flawed findings collapse under scientific scrutiny. This was in fact confirmed to have occurred by the Paradise Town Manager who said they found contamination in both metal and plastic piping after the fire.

Good scientists are like detectives – they let the facts lead the way. They don’t guide an investigation toward a predetermined outcome. They don’t create fictional laboratory scenarios that would never represent reality to condition the answers they seek. They aren’t driven by the level of news coverage they may generate for their work, the promotion they may receive from special interests, or the needless public fear their flawed research may spark. Above all, a good scientist will seek knowledge and adhere to the process of learning, rather than blindly defending results, especially if they are flawed.

Here are some of the reasons why Whelton’s study conclusions, originally published in The Conversation and reprinted by the Associated Press, Fast Company and other outlets, cannot be supported: 

  • Whelton never tested an actual intact segment of plastic pipe for his research on … plastic pipe:  He cut tiny fragments from each pipe and used them as the source material for his research. This does not accurately reflect how an actual plastic pipe would respond to a real fire. Without relying on an engineering analysis on how a pipe behaves in the simulated conditions he selected, Whelton promotes the work as being representative of just that.

  • Whelton then heated the fragments to an unrealistic extreme temperature that would likely compromise the structural integrity of the pipe itself. But he couldn’t account for this since he was using tiny pipe fragments, so his research doesn’t replicate how a plastic pipe would actually respond under such unrealistic laboratory conditions. Instead he selects “mass loss” as the first point at which degradation is detected, but a pipe is certain to cease holding its shape, much less holding water under pressure, at far lower temperatures.

  • Whelton then took the remaining remnants and manipulated them to increase their studied surface area, which artificially skewed the leachate results. 

“If the concern is about safe water delivery,” the Vinyl Institute wrote, “then the test should reflect meaningful conditions where water is still being delivered. … If similar logic were applied to ductile iron piping, the researchers would have taken a piece of ductile iron pipe and submerged it in an acid bath to simulate the effects of acidic soil. This would of course lead to the pipe dissolving and leaching heavy metals such as chromium.  The same exaggerated approach to making broad claims would have led to a statement that “exposing ductile iron pipe to typical soil conditions can generate detectable heavy metals that remains in the pipe and ultimately leaches into the water.” 

Other organizations have challenged Whelton’s research. The Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI) points out that “The study done by Dr. Whelton and his group fails to present any practical, meaningful evidence of the effect of fire or heat on safe water delivery. “ 

PPI’s David Fink also stated: “There is no evidence that the heating or burning of plastic pipe is responsible for the contamination of the water system[s in Northern California].” But rather, “[a]s water is used for firefighting or it runs out, it creates a negative pressure that allows contaminants to be drawn back in. Backflow is the technical term, and it can occur regardless of the piping material.”

The town manager of Paradise, California has explained that their examination showed that plastic pipes were not the cause of benzene contamination and even pointed out that the town is replacing damaged plastic pipe with new plastic pipe.

The PVC Pipe Association recently published a report pointing out that “the primary source of benzene in forest fires is from the combustion of wood. Burning homes and other structures are secondary sources. And that “[t]he most likely source of benzene in municipal water systems after a wildfire is not from burning or melting water mains but from outside contaminants entering the system via damaged service lines. . . As water in the system is used to fight the fire, suction draws in contaminants.” And finally that “Santa Rosa and Paradise have confirmed that PVC water transmission and distribution mains were unaffected by the forest fires that impacted their communities. This fact alone makes it impossible for PVC pipe to have been a source of benzene contamination in these localities.”

These critiques call into question the methods used by Whelton and the real-world applicability of his findings. But these facts haven’t stopped the iron pipe industry from promoting Whelton’s flawed study. The large iron pipe manufacturers and their activist “consultants” have seized on it to promote their own products despite the fact that the most likely cause of benzene contamination – backflow drawing contaminants from wood combustion into the system through damaged service lines – is just as likely to happen with their products. 

The press is also to blame for reinforcing the use of crude methods by giving them far more credence than they deserve. The Associated Press reflexively published Whelton’s study, which originally appeared in a publication called The Conversation, without doing any homework of its own to assess or evaluate its scientific integrity.  Fast Company and Yahoo News did too. These outlets failed their readers and have fueled public fear by giving this study attention it simply doesn’t deserve.

MORE: The Facts About PVC Pipe and Wildfires

 

Chemical Watch gets it Wrong on PVC

Chemical Watch gets it Wrong on PVC

 

Last week, Ginger Hervery, a reporter for Chemical Watch, asked us to comment on a report from IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network) that contained numerous misleading claims about PVC. Even though we were only given one day to examine this 92 page report, we provided her with a thorough comment on the report, its many shortcomings, and the well-established safety of PVC. From this, Ms. Hervey and her editors included a two sentence paraphrase of our statement in her story. In all, the article includes 445 words uncritically regurgitating activist talking points and only 38 words giving readers the other side.

We believe Chemical Watch’s readers have a right to even-handed reporting. Therefore, we will give you the facts they did not. Here is the full on-the-record comment we offered to Chemical Watch: 


 

To suggest that PVC products are unsafe due to their chemical composition misleads the public. This kind of oversimplification is irresponsible and distorts the facts. Even the authors emphasize the importance of noting that this issue involves complex, multi-factorial diseases that occur due to a combination of genetic predisposition, lifestyle and environment. Therefore, EDCs are one of the environmental factors that contribute to increased likelihood or severity of disease. Overstating the role of PVC products in this context has a high potential of misleading readers rather than informing and educating them about emerging science.

Decades of scientific study and real world use have demonstrated the safety and reliability of PVC products. It is one of the most researched materials plastic in history.  PVC manufacturing adheres to strict regulatory requirements, and for nearly 50 years, there has been no reliable scientific evidence that shows exposure to PVC poses any human health risks.

Additives used in PVC products undergo a rigorous regulatory review and approval process. For example, PVC medical products also adhere to the US Pharmacopeia guidelines and have been used safely for decades. A major medical product producer actually tracked the use of PVC medical products for more than eight billion patient days without any significant health effects. The unique benefit of phthalate plasticized PVC is improved blood safety and blood banking efficiency. The increased durability and flexibility prevents container breakage and bacterial contamination, and it allows for steam sterilization, heat welding, centrifugation/componentization.

Independent studies (including those considering the inhalation, dermal contact, and ingestion pathways) have demonstrated that exposure to phthalates in vinyl flooring and other products is de minimis if not non-existent, repeatedly finding no unacceptable risk. Even where vinyl flooring is manufactured with phthalates and/or where legacy products contain phthalates, the potential for exposure to phthalates from these products is extremely low. In response to public perception of purported health risks associated with phthalates, there has been a shift in market demand towards phthalate-free vinyl flooring; as a result, manufacturers have, as a general matter, moved away from the use of phthalates (specifically, ortho-phthalates).

Additionally, the report gets basic facts wrong like suggesting that cadmium and lead are common PVC additives. In reality, manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Australia moved away from these materials years ago (nearly two decades ago in the U.S.)

 
 

What You Need to Know About Vegan Leather

What You Need to Know About Vegan Leather

 

If you take a look through your closet, you’re likely to find something made from vegan leather. Whether it’s a coat, shoes, or a skirt, artificial leather is a common material for the fashion industry because it’s stylish, durable, and reduces the need for animals to be slaughtered to produce real leather. For decades, PVC has been the material behind this revolution in fashion and upholstery. Vegan leather made with PVC is one of the most durable, affordable, and stylish leather substitutes on the market. 

Consumers are more conscious of the impacts of using animal hide for leather garments and upholstery than ever before. As a result, they’ve sought out alternatives. Vegan leather made with PVC has proven to be a very popular alternative. Its adaptability and durability have given designers the flexibility to bring their visions to life and give consumers access to high quality, stylish products that are made to last. More importantly, PVC vegan leather costs less than real leather or the trendy, plant-based products touted by high fashion magazines. This means consumers from all socio-economic backgrounds can afford leather alternatives.  

Unfortunately in recent weeks, we’ve noticed a concerning trend in the rise of news coverage promoting dubious claims about vegan leather made with PVC. These breathless stories are light on facts and heavy on scaremongering and, in the end, mislead consumers about the products they use.

Some outlets promote unfounded chemophobia of the materials used to make PVC vegan leather. For example, Vogue Business recently published a story decrying the use of phthalate plasticizers in these products. Of course, phthalates have been safely used in consumer and commercial products for more than 50 years. 

Still, other writers claim that vegan leather made with PVC is bad for the environment. The production of PVC in the U.S. – including for vegan leather – is strictly regulated to ensure the health and safety of our communities and the environment. Vogue Business also repeats the common and inaccurate claim that U.S. PVC production releases ‘dangerous’ amounts of dioxin. The simple fact is that the entire U.S. PVC industry is responsible for about 5% of total dioxin emissions to air and water that people have the potential to be exposed to. And vegan leather made with PVC makes up a minuscule fraction of that.

And finally, some misguided reports suggest that, because PVC is a kind of plastic, vegan leather made with PVC is a major contributor to plastic pollution and ‘fast fashion.’ This is just not the case. One of the great advantages of PVC vegan leather is its exceptional durability. Products made with PVC tend to have exceptionally long useful lifetimes. And clothing and accessories made with PVC vegan leather are not just single-use, throwaway items. In fact, many of these items last for many years after the original purchaser uses them on secondary markets and consignment stores. It’s also worth noting that of all of the plastic found in the world’s waste stream, just 2.8% is PVC according to the United Nations.

Unfortunately, some fashion writers would rather remove this affordable, high quality, and stylish item from the choices available to lower-income consumers. We believe that consumers ought to have access to the best, most durable, and most affordable products possible. This is why we’re committed to keeping this kind of scaremongering out of the public discourse. We hope that outlets will stick to facts and let our products speak for themselves.

 

GreenMatters Misleads on PVC

GreenMatters Misleads on PVC

 

Readers have a right to straightforward, unbiased reporting on the issues that are important to them and their families. Unfortunately, agenda-driven outlets often fail to meet that standard and, instead, end up peddling inaccurate talking points with no basis in fact. That’s exactly what happened with this recent article from GreenMatters. So we picked up the responsibility of checking their work. Here’s what they got wrong:

 
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Vinyl Verified Corrects the Record on PVC Coated Fabrics

Vinyl Verified Corrects the Record on PVC Coated Fabrics

 

A recent marketing report from LDI Interiors made a series of inaccurate claims about PVC coated fabrics. We reached out to LDI Interiors to inform them of their mistakes but they ignored us. We have a responsibility to make sure the consumers have the facts. So we are publishing the letter we sent to LDI Interior correcting their misleading claims:


 

July 20, 2020 

Mr. Lou LaMarca 
CEO 
LDI Solutions 
3560 Lafayette Road 
Building 2, Suite C 
Portsmouth, NH 03801  

Dear Mr. LaMarca,  

It has come to our attention that LDI Interiors has recently been promoting a “research case study” which contains a number of false and misleading claims about vinyl materials. This “study” veers so far from scientific fact that it grossly misleads anyone who may read it.  

To start, the report makes the outlandish claim that PVC coated fabrics “do not hold up well over time to the new infection control protocols.” That is a claim for which the report offers no supporting evidence. The fact that PVC is exceptionally durable -- especially to harsh cleaning chemicals -- is exactly why PVC is commonly used in medical settings. In fact, newer protocols could actually make PVC fabrics even more durable.  

The report goes on to criticize the manufacture and disposal of PVC -- both of which are highly regulated to protect the health and safety of our communities and the environment (40 CFR Part 63 Subpart HHHHHHH and 29 CFR Part 1910.1017). All U.S. manufacturing is regulated by EPA and OSHA rules, including the materials used by LDI. To support this claim, the report cites a nearly two-decade old article from an activist organization whose 40 person staff employs only 2 licensed doctors. More to the point, what exactly does this have to do with the use of PVC fabrics in medical settings?  

It would seem that LDI is well aware of the advantages of PVC, given your company’s plans to release Evolution™ Vinyl, a line of vinyl durable coated fabrics this year. Yet you have chosen to publish and promote this “research report” attacking PVC products with nearly identical characteristics to the ones you plan to sell. 

In order to support the false claim that EnviroLeather is more durable than PVC, LDI invents several ‘tests’ out of whole cloth that rely on contrived conditions and is entirely divorced from the real-world use of durable coated fabrics. We asked for an opinion of LDI’s tests from a healthcare designer for a major U.S. healthcare system that is conducting extensive materials testing for products used in their facilities. They informed us that LDI’s key tests do not make any sense for use in current healthcare environments. On the broader credibility of the report, they noted that personally and professionally, they found this ‘white paper’ filled with inaccuracies and opinion

In this report LDI has engaged in the reckless promotion of misinformation and outright falsehoods. The continued promotion of this report does a disservice to the healthcare industry. Spreading false claims regarding PVC during this health care pandemic is particularly reprehensible. Before we consider our other options, we call on LDI Interiors to retract the report entirely and discontinue any future use of such egregious misstatements against PVC. 

We look forward to your swift response. 

Sincerely,  

Susan Orenga 
Executive Director 
Chemical Fabrics & Film Association    

Ned Monroe
President & CEO
Vinyl Institute

 
 

Health Care Without Harm Wants to Deny Front Line Workers Access to the Most Proven Protective Material on the Market: PVC

Health Care Without Harm Wants to Deny Front Line Workers Access to the Most Proven Protective Material on the Market: PVC

 

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) has a long and well-documented history of ideological opposition to PVC. They have taken every opportunity to push misleading, anti-PVC talking points, which has required us to publicly correct their misstatements and misinformation on numerous occasions. 

But recently, HCWH has reached a new low. In the middle of a global pandemic, when PVC products are being used by our essential medical professionals to protect themselves from the virus, HCWH has decided to put their ideology above public health by attacking PVC and promoting inferior and untested alternatives. 

We’ve written before on why PVC is critically important to the healthcare industry. That’s because PVC is easy to clean, resilient to harsh cleaners, and durable, making it ideal for use in hundreds of applications in medical facilities where it helps reduce and prevent healthcare-associated infections. We’ve also written about PVC being used as an effective barrier to protect doctors and nurses from highly contagious diseases like Ebola and now COVID-19. The simple fact is that PVC is indispensable to modern medical care.

What’s more, vinyl manufacturers have stepped up to the challenge and are helping our communities, our country, and the world during this crisis. Our members are continuing to produce resin for critical medical needs like IV and blood bags, medical tubing, and hundreds of other medical applications. 

They have produced and donated hand sanitizer and material for face shields. They have transitioned their plants from making roofing materials to manufacturing PPE gowns, sewing cloth masks, and begun making sanitary patient containment units. They have  donated vinyl flooring to make temporary hospitals more sanitary, and given millions of dollars to COVID-19 treatment and recovery efforts. We’re curious what HCWH has been doing other than push its baseless, anti-chemical agenda. 

It seems HCWH would rather have front line workers rely on untested equipment void of the one proven material that can serve as an impenetrable shield to minimize the spread of infection. Even a pandemic won’t stop HCWH from continuing to deceive the public about vinyl material.   

For years we have stated HCWH is an ideologically-entrenched opponent of PVC whose views lack scientific credibility. Today we don’t need to repeat it; their actions speak for themselves.

 

Don’t Be Misled by That “Red List” You Saw on Social Media

Don’t Be Misled by That “Red List” You Saw on Social Media

 

At some point you may have come across a so-called activist “red list.” The idea behind these fear pieces is pretty simple: condense sensational and unsupported science on products people use every day, present it as credible research to the public, reject the corpus of sound research that disputes their desired narrative on thin pretenses, and incite unnecessary alarm by claiming the products should be avoided at all costs.  

“Red lists” are grossly misleading. They make it hard for consumers to make informed choices. “Red lists” – sometimes called ‘restricted substance lists’ – lump together materials with drastically different risk profiles, and treat them exactly the same. In this one, they place the same amount of importance on avoiding phthalates as lead. Here’s the problem: lead has well known, well documented, and scientifically proven health risks and virtually any exposure at all is dangerous; phthalates, on the other hand, have been safely used for more than 50 years and there is no consensus among researchers and scientists that real world exposure to phthalates poses any human health risks. Despite these significant differences, this “red list” treats both materials the same.

Often citing the “precautionary principle”, the activist organizations that push “red lists” assume consumers aren’t sophisticated or educated enough to understand these distinctions, so they obfuscate and act as though the listed substances or materials  should all be avoided.

Another problem with “red lists” is that they often advise consumers against products that are perfectly safe for their intended use. They don’t take into consideration the issues of real world exposure and risk levels. Phthalates are applicable here as well.  The EPA has established a reference dose for safe exposure to various phthalates used for making products from cables to cosmetics. All of the exposure from these phthalates that a person is likely to experience in real-world scenarios is well below that safe level. Yet, the red-listers still say that you should avoid them altogether. Either the activists think you’re incapable of understanding the science, or else they’re pushing their own agenda by deliberately confusing the issue.

Which brings us to the central problem with “red lists.” They’re used by agenda-driven activists to carry out crusades against materials they deem unsafe based on misleading generalizations and oversimplified views of hazards to shape the purchasing habits of consumers. These organizations cite each other to create a guise of credibility despite failing to warn consumers about legitimately dangerous materials -- like crystalline silica -- while they profit from attacking and smearing safe materials used to produce rigid and flexible vinyl products. 

Although “red lists,” purport to be about a benefit to consumers, ultimately, they end up hurting consumers and the planet far more than they help. Ironically, the precautionary principle -- on which these lists claim to be based -- would suggest that these lists should not be trusted unless they are fully vetted and validated to provide benefit across the major indicators of human and climate health.