Word: pvc
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...truth, Bakelite--whose more chemically formal name is polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride--was just a harbinger of the age of plastics. Since Bakelite's heyday, researchers have churned out a polysyllabic catalog of plastics: polymethylmethacrylate (Plexiglas), polyesters, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC, a.k.a. vinyl), polyhexamethylene adipamide (the original nylon polymer), polytetraperfluoroethylene (Teflon), polyurethane, poly- this, poly-that...
Abbott Laboratories was not interviewed for this article, however you stated [based on a product flyer] that it "admits there is too little data to draw hard conclusions" about the safety of polyvinyl chloride. This is completely untrue and contrary to our position. PVC is the material of choice for many lifesaving medical products because of its compatibility with medications, sterilization capabilities and other positive qualities. These products have a superlative 40-year record of safe and effective use in the health-care industry. Nor is Abbott a "PVC maker." Abbott Laboratories fabricates safe, government-approved health-care products using...
...plastic products raising the loudest alarms are made of a material known as polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. To make PVC pliable, manufacturers treat it with softeners known as phthalates (pronounced thalates)--loosely bound chemicals that easily leach out of the plastic. In the U.S. millions of IV bags made of PVC are used annually. If the liquids the bags contain pick up stray phthalates, they can be transfused straight into the veins of patients. Animal studies suggest that phthalates can damage the liver, heart, kidneys and testicles, and may cause cancer. "We don't know the toxicity mechanism," says Charlotte...
Preliminary as these findings are, groups like Brody's have seen enough. Some hospitals in Europe have switched to PVC-free IV bags and tubes, and U.S. activists are calling for the same step here. PVC manufacturers object, insisting that their products are safe and arguing that animals in plastic studies are given far higher levels of PVC than a human would ever absorb. In at least one experiment, however, rats were deliberately given low PVC doses and still showed ill effects. Abbott Laboratories, a PVC maker, admits there is too little data to draw hard conclusions; with some...
Household products are less of a concern. Consumers can look for wraps made of polyethylene instead of PVC. To play it even safer, food should never be microwaved in any plastic wrap since this speeds adipate migration. Plastic bowls marked microwavable are probably safer than those that aren't; glass or china bowls are even better. Beyond that, there's little any consumer can do. "Industry develops these products for their physical characteristics," says Peter Orris, a professor of internal medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, "but it doesn't always test them for human toxicity...