Vinyl in the Crossfire: Discerning Fact from Fiction in the White-Hot Debate over PVC and the Environment

For the second time in five years, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is bravely wading into the controversy surrounding vinyl. At the request of certain parties in the Green community, USGBC is trying to determine whether vinyl (from PVC pipes to vinyl flooring and surfacing) should be considered a hazard to the environment and, in turn, whether the use of vinyl should be discouraged by eco-conscious architects and designers through the USGBC's signature LEED rating system for Green buildings.

Much of the fire directed at vinyl comes from such often-esteemed organizations as Greenpeace -- which, on its Web site, called the vinyl industry "one of the ‘most toxic-producing industries on the planet'" -- and the Healthy Building Network (or HBN) -- which claims that vinyl contains and emits carcinogens harmful to Human health.