LONDON December 17th, 1992 (GP) -- Greenpeace issued an alert today to all shoppers this Christmas to ensure their gifts are free of the poisonous PVC. The alert comes as the international skin and hair care chain 'The Body Shop' announced it would no longer order any products or packaging containing PVC from 1993.

'The Body Shop' operates in forty one countries around the world and estimates that phasing out PVC in gift wrapping alone will save the use of approximately nineteen tonnes of PVC each year.

Scientific evidence is mounting against PVC. PVC's production involves the transport of highly explosive materials, the production of toxic waste and the addition during its manufacture of up to four thousand other toxic ingredients. Toxic additives can be released from PVC packaging into food, into a room which has PVC flooring or into a child's digestive system if he or she chews a PVC toy. When PVC plastics are destroyed by incineration, they release dioxins. In the US, government scientists have found evidence which suggests that even at background levels, dioxins may have reproductive, behavioural and immuno-suppressive effects.

The Body Shop opted for its PVC-free policy after lengthy consultations with industry and with Greenpeace. "If we could be reassured that all PVC incinerated anywhere in the world would not contribute to the formation of dioxins and excessive hydrogen chloride emissions, we might be more sympathetic to its continued use as a packaging material," said David Wheeler, General Manager in charge of Environment, Health and Safety. "But since incineration practices vary around the world we prefer to apply the precautionary principle in this case."

The campaign against PVC is gathering pace across Europe. In Germany the cities of Berlin and Bielefeld have declared themselves PVC free. In Austria, a number of cities and federal states including Tyrol, Vienna and Salzburg have banned the use of PVC in public construction. Early next year a court hearing will re-open in Vienna at which Austrian PVC companies, all subsidiaries of leading European Chemical multinationals are suing Greenpeace for "malicious and unfactual attacks on PVC". The lawsuit was brought as a result of a Greenpeace billboard and advertising campaign depicting PVC as an environmental poison.

"It is high time that the PVC industry admits it is a major source of environmental pollution," said Lisa Finaldi of Greenpeace International. "Non-chlorinated alternatives exit for all PVC products. We demand an immediate phaseout of the PVC industry."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Lisa Finaldi, Greenpeace International 919/828-5202
David Wheeler, Leon Choi The Body Shop 44-903-725-132