BY DELTHIA RICKS
delthia.ricks@newsday.com

November 9, 2007

Target Corp., the fifth largest retailer in the United States, is reducing the number of products containing polyvinyl chloride -- PVC -- on its shelves in a gradual switch to products that do not contain the controversial compound, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

The nationwide chain joins other major companies such as Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Nike and Apple, which have decided to remove products that contain PVC from their shelves.

PVC is widely used in household items sold around the world. It is composed of a compound called phthalates, which make the plastics flexible. Advocacy groups have cited adverse health effects caused by the chemical.

At Target, PVC products will be replaced with others made from a range of other materials, including ethylene vinyl acetate, a non-PVC plastic.

The planned move away from PVC for the retailer, which earns $59 billion in revenues annually, was first announced earlier this week by the environmental group, Center for Health, Environment and Justice in Washington, D.C. The phase-out of PVC involves a wide range of merchandise from infant products, children's toys, shower curtains and fashion accessories to the packaging in which numerous products are contained.

"We ran a yearlong campaign to encourage Target to phase out products that are unsafe for our health and the environment," said Michael Schade, the center's PVC campaign coordinator.

"We mobilized over 40,000 customers in order to have them phase out what we call poison plastic ... It was quite a big campaign," said Schade, adding the group was particularly concerned that toys made of PVC be removed from Target's shelves "because they were like toxic lollipops" for children who put the toys in their mouths.

Schade said the environmental group was especially interested in having PVC shower curtains removed from Target's shelves because government studies had shown they produce noxious gases.

"New PVC shower curtains are capable of off-gassing in your home," he said. "The Environmental Protection Agency found in a study that a new PVC shower curtain can release dangerous indoor gases for over a month. When that smell persists, that means the shower curtain is releasing gases," Schade said.
Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for research and
educational purposes.