Recently, there has been a discussion about how to create affordable housing on the Isthmus on thedailypage.com. That discussion has gotten very wonky and ended up being mostly about types of materials that are used in building, the quality of homes built now and then and the pros and cons of different types of materials. That discussion, however, has mostly been about how cheap something is, how maintenance free it is and how well it holds up over time.
This discussion, however, was leaving out a few other measurements of what makes good building materials: Human health/death and environmental impact. One thing that immediately caught my eye was when they were discussing the virtues of vinyl over wood siding. A controversy I was made painfully aware of when we decided to paint our wood sided home instead of buy vinyl siding. Our decision to keep our wood siding was originally one of aesthetics, lack of color choices and keeping our home original. As time went by and we had issues getting it painted, several people suggested we just put vinyl siding on it, but we were pretty stubborn, and I’m glad . . . because at some point, I believe it was Matt Sloan, handed me a video called Blue Vinyl and it gave me a whole new perspective on vinyl. (ooops, my boyfriend Rob found the video after Matt Sloan suggested we get vinyl siding at the Council holiday party . . . and I made Matt watch the video . . . sorry Rob!)
When I watched the video, I found out all kinds of information about polyvinyl chloride, including how the production of this material exposes workers to dioxin and other nasty chemicals that cause cancer, endometriosis, neurological damage, immune system damage, respiratory problems, liver and kidney damage, and birth defects in the workers (and their children) who have worked with this stuff. It showed how workers who worked with resin would get a rare form of cancer called angiosarcoma of the liver. It also showed how in Venice, Italy, there were whole departments in PVC plants where 100% of the workers have died or ended up with cancer of the lungs or larynx. Is showed how women who used hairspray with PVC in it has higher levels of dioxin than industry workers.
The movie shows people in Lake Charles, Louisiana where PVC is being produced talking about how they don’t go outside because they have asthma, the high rates of cancer in the town around the plant, brown trees, incidents where people couldn’t breathe outside and stuff was falling out of the sky on people in the area, how air samples have 10 times the amount of toxic chemicals than air in other places. It showed how there were warning signs telling people not to eat the fish or touch the water around the plants where polyvinyl chloride is produced. It showed a whole community that had to move because the ground water was contaminated by the nearby plants.
It showed how when vinyl products burn, people die from the toxic fumes like at the fire at the MGM Grand in 1980 and how one house fire with vinyl siding can cause permanent respiratory damage to people in the area.
In addition to the dioxins that are released into the environment during the production of PVC, the lifecycle of the vinyl is also a problem and disposing of this stuff creates a second hazard to the community. Obviously, dioxin is toxic, but worse yet, it builds up in our bodies and the environment, including the food chain, causing us to ingest more dioxin.
Unfortunately, the construction industry is responsible for 75% of the PVC market – not just the low maintenance and cheap vinyl siding, but the PVC plumbing and other materials. In the U.S., PVC is predominately manufactured near low-income communities in Texas and Louisiana. You can find out more information about polyvinyl chloride, where places in Wisconsin are that incinerate and create PVC materials, and much more here.
Watch the movie . . . or at least go to the sites listed above and tell me, are low-maintenance and cheap materials really “better” for our community or worse yet, the low-income communities where PVC is produced? Shouldn’t we look at the environmental impact and the human
health/death factor as well when choosing our building materials? It’s not just about the ugly cookie cutter communities we build – this stuff is toxic.
