If PVC and all of its products and components disappeared tomorrow would extremist organizations like Greenpeace be satisfied? Definitely not. The activists are not just anti-PVC – they are anti-plastic and anti-chemical. That affects a lot more than just PVC. Take a look at the pyramid below, originally posted on the Greenpeace web site, that shows their ranking of the “safety” of plastics, from least (top) to most (bottom).
For an objective view of PVC roofing material safety, download the Q&A document, PVC Roofing Systems: Benefits & Issues from the Duro-Last web site. We also regularly post articles on this blog regarding PVC issues.
Greenpeace’s plans are to start at the top and work down. If the activists can’t attack plastics directly they change their tactics and attack the components that go into final plastic products. Some components they like to draw attention to are chlorine, plasticizers, stabilizers, fire retardants and UV inhibitors.
If they attack any of these components they attack every single plastic in existence – plus thousands of other lifesaving products and processes. Here’s just a sampling of what would cease to exist in their present form if “just” chlorine were eliminated:
| Milk jugs | Chlorine bleach | Decaf coffee | DVD disks |
| Skin cream | Fire extinguishers | Paint | Windows |
| Penicillin | Sewer pipe | Jello | Beer brewing |
| Automobile hoses | Bike tires | Nylon rope | Satellites |
| Helmets & hardhats | Solar panels | Deodorant | Fishing line |
| Heart valves | Silicon memory chips | Boat hulls | Wind turbines |
| Roller blades | Luggage rollers | Water purification | Ibuprofen |
| Toothpaste | PDAs | IV tubing & bags | Computers |
| Flooring | Valium | Runway de-icer | MP3 players |
| Polyurethane insulation |
There are thousands of other products and processes that have expanded and improved human existence that are threatened. So, if anyone thinks they have a competitive advantage by fueling the fires of junk science activists against their competitors, think again. Today’s competitive advantage could become tomorrow’s dead pharaoh buried under the pyramid.
