ARLINGTON, Va. June 30, 2008 – “Volatile Vinyl,” a report released in June 2008 by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, alleged chemicals being released by vinyl shower curtains are dangerous and should be banned. Many news organizations – and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission – criticized the report for sloppy research, limited sample size (only one shower curtain was fully tested), and scare-mongering. Following, are some excerpts from those media reports.
“…An environmental group claims in a new study of vinyl shower curtains that some of them may release into the air toxic chemicals which could cause asthma, eye irritation or even cancer…But some health experts are paying scant attention to those behind the curtain study. And perhaps with good reason…Skeptics pointed out what they call a glaring error in the study's methodology. The group tested a total of five shower curtains, of which only one shower curtain -- not one brand; one curtain -- was subjected to complete testing for chemicals in its composition, as well as those it released into the air -- a phenomenon known as ‘off-gassing’.”
(Studies Gone Wild: Death by Shower Curtain? ABC News, June 12, 2008)
“‘It's not a big issue,’ said Warren Foster, a professor in the obstetrics and gynecology department at McMaster University in Hamilton…. Foster said the groups releasing the study are ‘heavily biased’ and looking to confirm a hypothesis. A truly scientific study, he said, would look to test the hypothesis and also include controls and random sampling.” (New Concerns About Plastic Shower Curtains May Be Overblown, Experts Say, The Canadian Press)
“Also sounding off against the study was the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC), the agency charged with protecting the public from dangers in more than 15,000 types of consumer products under its jurisdiction…‘The CSPC never just discounts or discredits information,’ said CSPC spokesperson Julie Vallese. ‘If it is a topic that the agency should have an interest in, we are always willing to take a look at the science.’ But in this case, she noted, ‘Our toxicological experts took a look at the report and have many, many concerns with the credibility of the science involved…[T]he claims that are being made on shower curtains are “phantasmagorical,”’ Vallese said, adding that she doesn't get to use such a word very often in her work as a spokesperson.”
(Studies Gone Wild: Death by Shower Curtain? ABC News, June 12, 2008)
“A cup of coffee will release more than 1,000 volatiles. Ah, but the argument, as put forward by CHEJ, is that some of the chemicals released by a shower curtain are classified as hazardous air pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The same can be said about compounds such as furfural, styrene and caffeic acid found in coffee. Yet we do not talk about closing coffee shops, or protecting people from second-hand coffee aroma.”
(Peeking Through the Shower Curtain Scare, Joe Schwarcz, Montreal Gazette, June 28, 2008)
“The study found the one curtain which was tested for off-gassing may have released, over the course of the first few hours after it was opened, chemicals that could be toxic if swallowed or inhaled only in quantities thousands of times greater than those found.” (Studies Gone Wild: Death by Shower Curtain? ABC News, June 12, 2008)
“…the study found phthalates in the shower curtains but couldn’t find phthalates coming off the shower curtains. And if you can’t measure migration, how can you claim there’s an exposure risk? It’s a bit like saying, ‘there’s vinyl covering the wires inside a TV set; vinyl contains phthalates; phthalates are dangerous; we couldn’t really measure any phthalates coming out of the TV, but there must be (wait for another study), and meanwhile, watch out, TV exposes you to toxic chemicals.’”
(Enviro Psycho! Embarrassing Disclosure in Poisonous Shower Curtain Scare, STATS Blog Posted June 12, 2008 by Trevor Butterworth, STATS: The Statistical Assessment Service at George Mason University)
“‘It's a great example of how quickly a sound bite can become dangerous and contagious,’ said ABC News medical contributor Dr. Marie Savard…‘The idea that people should be tossing out their shower curtains based on a study that more or less focuses on a single shower curtain is absurd. This is scare science at its best, or worst, depending on how you look at it.’”
(Studies Gone Wild: Death by Shower Curtain? ABC News, June 12, 2008)
“According to the report, testing was limited ‘to avoid potential instrument damage’…in conclusion, more research needs to be done. Skeptics say don't panic just yet.”
(Shower Curtain Scare: New Study Only Tested ONE Curtain, The Post Chronicle, June 13, 2008)
“[CHEJ’s Michael Schade, study author,] conceded that whether the levels of these VOCs emitted by the curtains could be directly linked to health effects was difficult to determine.” (Studies Gone Wild: Death by Shower Curtain? ABC News, June 12, 2008)
“Equally sly is the CHEJ’s conclusion that the chemicals released by shower curtains are a major source of indoor air pollution, and that the American Lung Association (ALA) considers indoor air pollution a major health problem; it does, but there’s nothing in its fact sheet to indict shower curtains or vinyl. Instead, the ALA warns about ‘biological pollutants, including molds, bacteria, viruses, pollen, dust mites, and animal dander, radon, tobacco smoke, formaldehyde, asbestos, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and potential exposures to chemicals in household cleaning agents, personal care products, pesticides, paints, hobby products, and solvents.’”
(Enviro Psycho! Embarrassing Disclosure in Poisonous Shower Curtain Scare, Stats Blog Posted June 12, 2008 by Trevor Butterworth, STATS: The Statistical Assessment Service at George Mason University)
“While the Center Health, Environment and Justice are demanding there be a recall, experts are saying the study doesn't hold much credence.”
(Shower Curtain Scare: New Study Only Tested ONE Curtain, The Post Chronicle, June 13, 2008)
“‘You saw the thing about the shower curtains? ’” my husband asked the other evening. We buy our shower curtain liners at Target, where they're very cheap, and now we learn that their tangy chemical odor – that just-unwrapped, new- shower-curtain smell – could hasten our demise. He shrugged. I shrugged. We'll replace them when we get around to it.”
(Phthalates in curtains? Phthththt! By Anita Creamer, Sacramento Bee, Scene Section June 18, 2008)
“But if the organization’s testing methodology drew skepticism, its P.R. methodology was spot on. ‘Anytime you have “toxic” next to an item everyone has in their house and has always been assumed to be the last thing that would harm them, you can be sure it will get picked up on the news, and the Web will spread it like wildfire,’ said Allen P. Adamson, managing director of Landor, a corporate branding firm, and the author of ‘BrandSimple’.”
(Need Press? Repeat: ‘Green,’ ‘Sex,’ ‘Cancer,’ ‘Secret,’ ‘Fat’, Joanne Kaufman, New York Times, June 30, 2008)
“‘In our busy lives, there are so many things that people should be or could be focused on to improve their health and safety,’ [Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesperson Julie] Vallese said. ‘Their shower curtains are not one of them. I think there are a lot of people out there sounding the false alarm.’”
(Studies Gone Wild: Death by Shower Curtain? ABC News, June 12, 2008)
“CHEJ’s primary interest is in leading a campaign against the household vinyl shower curtain and other safe products made of polyvinyl chloride – an important plastic better known as vinyl…As groups like CHEJ and Greenpeace continue to lose credibility in the public arena, they ironically continue to cling to the very types of activist campaigns that made them lose their credibility in the first place. It’s one reason I decided to leave Greenpeace, after co-founding the organization in the early 1970s and helping lead it through to 1986. Purporting to be driven by empirical data, groups like Greenpeace and CHEJ have become political, motivated by fundraising. In the process, they have lost any claim to scientific accuracy.” (The Absurd Campaign Against the Humble Shower Curtain,” Patrick Moore, Jan. 23, 2007 – written when CHEJ first began its attack campaign on shower curtains)