Mommy Goes Green

The Center for Environment, Health and Justice has this great ( cute and cheesy, but effective) video about the dangers of PVC in your house .  As soon as I finished watching it, I went through my daughter’s rubber duckies to “look for the 3″.  2 of them had ‘Made In China” on the bottom and the other had “not recyclable” on the bottom.  Since China is producing such high quality products recently, I’m sure the rubber duckie is uber safe ( not ).

PVC, dubbed ‘the poison plastic’, is also known as vinyl.  What makes it dangerous is the chemical additives that leach out of these products. It’s used in many consumer products and packaging from bibs and raincoats to mattress covers and shower curtains.  You know that “new shower curtain smell” ?  That’s the smell of chemicals off-gassing from the PVC.  According to one study, the  number of VOCs released from shower curtains with PVC is 16x greater than the recommended limit for air quality set by the U.S. Green Building Council.  Ouch – I have a vinyl shower curtain in my daughter’s bath tub.

I could go on and on and ON about everything I’ve read about PVC but it’s overwhelming.  Instead, I’m taking baby steps.  Step 1 – GET RID OF MY SHOWER CURTAIN.  I’ve seen ‘PVC free’ shower curtains several times but I’ve procrastinated purchasing one – no longer.  You can find PVC free shower curtains everywhere – Target, Wal-Mart, Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Kmart, and IKEA.  Look for cotton or nylon curtains or those labeled ‘EVA’ or ‘PEVA’.

I will also start looking for the number ‘3′ and/or the letter ‘V’ when purchasing products – I admit I haven’t been committed to doing this regularly.

You can find more information about PVC and safe plastic products through the online guide, “Pass Up the Poison Plastic – the PVC-Free Guide for Your Family & Home“.

Let me know what you’ve found in your house that’s made of PVC!

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