Writer: Jennifer Arteche-Valenton, MAS-PRID
http://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=2456
An opposition lawmaker is seeking a ban on the sale of shower curtains made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in light of a United States-based study that cited its deadly effects on human beings.
Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (PMP-UNO, Cagayan de Oro) sought the ban through the filing of House Bill No. 4524. This resulted from a US-based report released by the environmental group Eco Waste Coalition, which enumerated the deadly effects of shower curtains made from polyvinyl chloride to human health.
Citing the study entitled Volatile Vinyl: The New Shower Curtain's Chemical Smell, Rodriguez explained that shower curtains emit as many as
108 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air that were found to be carcinogenic and may cause damage to the liver, respiratory, reproductive and central nervous systems.
Also found in PVC shower curtains are chemicals such as phthalates and organotins, the lawmaker said.
Phthalates have been linked to reproductive problems including shorter pregnancies, premature breast development in girls, as well as sperm damage and impaired reproductive development in males.
Exposure to organotins meanwhile may affect the skin, liver the reproductive, immune and central nervous systems,” Rodriguez said.
Other chemicals, such as toluene, cyclohexanone, methyl isobutyl ketone, phenol and ethyl benzene were also found in the air 28 days after a shower curtain was unwrapped and hung, according to the solon.
Rodriguez said even the World Health Organization has included indoor pollution as one of the major risks to human health and among the 13 environmental problems facing the world. They said this was caused by pollutants inside the homes such as shower curtains, among others,
Further, it has been discovered that 90 percent of shower curtains sold in leading mall and retail stores in Metro Manila were made of PVC. "Some of them are not even properly labeled," Rodriguez added.
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