Filmmaker Judith Helfand screened her documentary “Blue Vinyl” at the University last weekend as part of the “My House Is Your House” campaign, a consumer organizing and community education effort to increase awareness of vinyl’s toxic implications.
The film portrays Helfand’s quest to learn more about the vinyl siding her parents were putting on their home. After she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 25 — a malady she said was caused by DES, a drug given to her mother while pregnant — Helfand became skeptical of any substance containing synthetic chemicals.
Helfand discovered the polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, used in vinyl has a toxic life cycle. PVC releases the carcinogen dioxin into the air during manufacturing and burning processes. People who work at the manufacturing plants or live near them are often exposed to unsafe dioxin levels.
Directed by Helfand and Daniel B. Gold, “Blue Vinyl” is the winner of several film festival awards including the Excellence in Cinematography in a documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002. HBO also aired the film.
University assistant professor at the Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Joe Thornton attended the screening to answer questions about PVC and the film. Thornton called vinyl the most environmentally hazardous consumer product on earth.
Despite its toxicity, PVC is used in countless substances, from baby toys to shower curtains. Helfand said she hopes the film will inspire people to seek out less harmful alternatives to vinyl, especially vinyl used in building manufacturing.
“We made ‘Blue Vinyl’ with the hope that we could produce a fun, effective, heart and mind opening way for consumers, at every class level, to see that they are connected to people and communities all along the material life cycle of the products that get manufactured, that we buy, that get disposed of,” Helfand said. “In the case of vinyl and PVC, and via those human connections — which the industry does not want us to make — change will happen. It already is.”
Both Helfand and Thornton stressed the importance that not only individual consumers, but also larger corporations, stop using PVC products.
“We have very limited choices as consumers,” Thornton said. “That is why this new idea of organizing people to put pressure on the government and institutions to make environmentally friendly purchasing decisions is so important.”
Helfand stressed the obligation of campuses like the University to set an example and make “green” purchasing decisions.
“I really believe campuses and universities play an important role in changing the way purchases are made,” Helfand said. “How many binders are purchased at a university that are made from PVC? Why not purchase something recycled? A university can stimulate the demand for sustainable materials.”
For more information on the “My House Is Your House” campaign, visit the Web site www.myhouseisyourhouse.org.