The World as Home

"Two chemists have devoted their careers to understanding the community health threats created when chemicals from PVC plants drift to the far side of the fence line. One of them is Wilma Surba, who has studied air quality in the neighborhoods surrounding various PVC plants in Kentucky and Louisiana. Even in the absence of explosions and upsets—during times when the plants were operating normally—Subra has documented consistent patterns of dioxin and vinyl chloride exposure to area residents, including school children.

In February 2004, Subra presented her data at the first public meeting of the U.S. Green Building Council's vinyl task force in Washington, D.C. The council is in the midst of promulgating a rating system that can be used to certify buildings as 'green,' in much the same way that the U.S. Depratment of Agriculture now certifies food as organic. The council's system, called LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—offers points toward certification to architects who incorporate energy-saving and environmentally friendly materials into their designs. The council's PVC task force is now charged with deciding whether a point should be given for 'vinyl avoidance.' (Full disclosure: my research for this article was carried out in part as a consultant to Healthy Building Network, a public-interest group that watch-dogs the activities of the U.S. Green  Building Council.) . . .    

Subra, who won a MacArthur Award for her research, was warmly received by the council's vinyl task force in February 2004. Its members asked thoughtful questions and asked to see more data. After Subra's presentation, however, more than twenty different vinyl lobbyists spoke on the virtues of PVC. A year later, when the task force released the first public draft of its PVC assessment, Subra's work was largely ignored. By contrast, other institutions have taken more definitive action. The Australian Green Building Council has alredy rejected PVC as a green building material. So have the state of New York, the cities of San Francisco and Boston, and at least two major hospitals.      

The other chemist investigating the public health effects of PVC is Pat Costner, a former industry scientist who now forks for Greenpeace. Costner focuses on dioxin formation  when PVC burns. Should you ever wonder exactly how much dioxin is generated when a shredded vinyl glove incinerated in a laboratory combuster, Pat Costner would be the person to call. . . . 

In my own household, I am embracing the concept with which the U.S. Green Building Council is currently grappling: vinyl avoidance. I'll start with my kitchen floor, which I will soon replace with linoleum or sustainably harvested wood. This will be my personal contribution to homeland security. More to the point, my son, now three years old, has respiratory allergies. I am as invested in protecting his security of person as I am the security of his homeland."

—copyright (c) Sandra Steingraber. From "The Pirates of Illiopolis," in The Future of Nature