EU Risk Assessments Refute UBA Hypotheses on PVC Plasticizers

First Comment on the UBA Hypothesis Paper

“Phthalates – The Useful Plasticizers with Undesirable Properties�, February 2007

8 February 2007 – In the UBA (Federal Environmental Agency) hypothesis paper published on 7 February 2007 claims are made that are inaccurate and largely refuted by the official risk assessments of the EU.

It was only in April 2006 that the EU published risk assessments for the most frequently used plasticizers DINP, DIDP and DPB after many years of thorough investigations; experts from the EU member States from the South to the North – including from UBA – explicitly agreed with them.

For example, the final report on DINP states “The end products containing DINP (clothes, building materials, toys and baby equipment) and the sources of exposure (car and public transport interiors, food and food packaging) are unlikely to pose a risk for consumers (adults, infants and newborns) following inhalation, skin contact and ingestion.� Furthermore, it explicitly states that there is such extensive knowledge that there is no need for additional investigations.

In spite of contradictory findings from the official EU risk assessments on phthalates and an OSPAR classification as non-persistent and non-bioaccumulating substances, UBA believes that the entry of DINP and DIDP into the environment should be avoided for “precautionary reasons�. Other plasticizers are given a blanket rejection.

These recommendations are not made on the basis of new scientific findings, but are all based on a number of suspicions about structural similarities, assumed bioaccumulation and enrichment in soils and sediments.

The expansion of use and larger quantities being produced cannot alone be sufficient to prove an assumed increase in risks – non-accumulating substances do not enrich, even if double the quantities are entered into the environment.

The document “Arguments: Plastics & Phthalates� of December 2006 contains more information (in German): http://www.agpu.com/fileadmin/user_upload/information_herunterlade/Phthalate_12_06.pdf

PVC has been manufactured for over 50 years and is one of the most well-known and important plastics. In production, PVC occurs as a white powder and is mixed with many additives before it is processed into products, just like many other materials (glass, steel, concrete, etc.). Thus, PVC raw materials can be used to make a thick-walled pipe or a wafer thin film to pack fresh meat, depending of the choice of additives. Plasticizers are added to make products, such as telephone cables or shower curtains, flexible.

Furthermore, the alternatives to plasticized PVC products that UBA lists in Chapter 8 must be ecologically and technically tested. As long as these questions have not been answered for the substitutes, plasticized PVC products, such as easy-care and low-emission floorings, safe cables, anti-corrosion car underseals, low-allergy medical products and much more will be able to maintain their position. 

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Further information:

Werner Preusker, Geschäftsführer, Arbeitsgemeinschaft PVC
und Umwelt e.V. | Working Group PVC and Environment
Am Hofgarten 1-2, D-53113 Bonn
Tel. +49 228 917 83-0, Fax +49 228 917 83-90
www.agpu.com | agpu(at)agpu.com