Sticky Plastic ?

[pete]

I don't know specifically which plasticizers are used in any particular item. Some, though, are longer-lasting and less odorous than others. A very common one is diethyl hexyl phthalate (or dioctyl phthalate). My own assessment of any potential harm to humans from them or other vinyl plasticizers is very low.

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic, if not plasticized, is hard enough to be used for items such as window frames and water pipes, but when mixed with considerable amounts of plasticizers - up to 50% - it becomes the flexible, soft plastic that we all know and love. Plasticized PVC is used in shower curtains, window curtains (well, for bathrooms anyway), tablecloths, baby pants, rainwear, aprons, bowl and mixer covers, shower caps, swimming pools and many other kinds of inflatable toys, reservoir liners, and flexible tubing for laboratory, food technology, and hospital applications. (These are all I can think of off the top of my head.) Specifically in hospitals it is used for tubing and for bags used in storing blood and plasma as well as for saline IV solutions. Many of these uses have gone on for a good long time...fifty or sixty years at least for some of them.

The very ubiquity of plasticized PVC argues against it or any of its components being harmful to humans. I would suspect that if there was some specific way it was harmful to humans we would know about it.

Therefore I think that there are a great many things that are more worth worrying about than the plasticizer in your PVC items.

[pvcdreams.old]

"Therefore I think that there are a great many things that are more worth worrying about than the plasticizer in your PVC items."

I think you're right Pete. I would also add that in the nuclear industry, maintenance workers have to spend long periods in full pvc suits - every working day without any ill effects, and that has been going on since the first nuclear power stations were built in the 1960s, then there are the chemical plant workers, highly infectious desease lab technicians - the list goes on.....

[pvcdreams.old]

Hi guys

we have all been wearing PVC all of our adult lives and as far as I know none of us has dropped down dead due to the odour of the PVC or the stickyness that we sometimes come across. One misconception is that the smell of new PVC is from the Phthalates in the softner but in fact the Phthalates are odourless and colourless, the smell is from the actual PVC which has become "free" due to the phthalates allowing the molecules to move over each other. Correct, some of the stickiness could be some small migration of the softner but the main reason for it being "sticky" is because the surfaces are shiny and they "block" together, along with a bit of condensation and you have sticky plastic. Phthalates are oil soluble so not a good idea to mix with baby oil because this will release the Phthalates and your PVC will become hard and crackley very quickly. Phthalates are not water soluble so washing in warm water is fine. At PVC-U-LIKE we use a phthalate known as DEHP which has been used for approx 50 years, it is one of the most studied Phthalates in use and has been proven to be completely safe, please read this document

http://www.dehp-facts.com/upload/docume ... 140609.pdf

Things to be aware of:-

Do not burn PVC and breath in the fumes they are highly toxic.
Be careful if you are using masks and body bags, use common sense, have some fun but don't suffocate.

Carry on enjoying PVC it's perfectly safe

Regards

Gary at PVC-U-LIKE

[Juppe]

Hello, a lot of good advice here..
We might actually talk about two different kind of stickyness. The other is the familiar sound when you unfold a new glossy pvc garment which is kind of attached in the package. But the other is a kind of oily appearance that you might encounter with a garment that has been unused for a longer period. That is definitely caused by migration of plasticiser acc to my understanding.
Although I am watching what goes on in the health& enviromental issues, I agree that the joy of using PVC garments can hardly be compensated with anything else.
PS DEHP has limitations for using that for items for children.

[Bandilo]

Thanks Pete and Gary for the detailed information
Best Regards from Berlin
Bandilo

[debs37]

hello pvc lovies.. well all this talk about PVC being dangerous, as far as im concerned, what a wonderful way to die. hehehe.

But do take pvc-u-like's advice.. don't kill urself..

debs xxx

[debs37]

My H&M red coat is abit sticky at the minute, Id say its my daughters lollies thats doing it,, sticky is nice.

Debs xx

[Bandilo]

I like my wife in very smooth, thin and heavy coats, like from pvc-u-like, very much. She preferes the stiffer, harder non sticky materials. She has the problem that very soon after surviving the cold shock, when she puts on the coat, she starts to sweat, and she sweats heavily and has not the predisposition to enjoy it (like a former girl frind of mine ). In the not sticky materials she is not sweatting so fast and if the material is not sticking at the whole body, some air gets in for cooling when she moves her body..... and than she can enjoy wearing a raincoat for a longer time..
Bandilo