When: Sunday, July
16
Time: 6:00 pm
Where: Path to Freedom, 631
Cypress Ave, Pasadena, CA 91103
$5 - $10 suggested donation (we
are working with our local Wild Oats in hopes to give away some cloth bags --
stay tuned)
As always, space is limited so please
rsvp
::Event Schedule::
6:00 - 7:00 pm - "100 Mile"
Potluck
7:30 pm - Film
screening 'Blue Vinyl'
{ if you decide not to attend, please be
considerate, and send us an email informing us of your
cancellation}
::Film Description::
With humor, hope, and piece of PVC vinyl siding in hand (a remnant from her
parent's suburban house), Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold explores home,
family industry-sponsored science and the ecology of denial.
Questioning her parents decision to put blue vinyl siding on their house,
she sets out to find the truth about vinyl: what are the hazards, are there
side-effects, are there dangers in the production and disposal of vinyl?
Having lost her uterus from DES poisoning, she shares a bond with the
cancer victims who work in and live in the shadow of the vinyl and PVC
factories. Judith has this gravelly high voice, a quirky sense of humor, and a
vulnerability in the face of corporate America that makes her irresistible.
Exposure to vinyl chloride is an extremely underrated hazard. Research has
shown for years (and Helfand makes a strong case for this in her movie) that
vinyl chloride is a carcinogen, and that the production & disposal of vinyl
is a serious environmental and health risk.
Vinyl (or PVC) is the “most environmentally hazardous consumer
product in the world.” The chemical released in its creation and
disposal (and likely gradually emitted, at eeenie weenie levels, during its life
in between) is the exceptionally deadly dioxin, “the Watergate of molecules.”
And as one of the many scientists interviewed for this film asserts, the highly
carcinogenic dioxin sticks around for a very long time: if you were “exposed to
ten units of dioxin, ten years later, you would still have five units in your
body.”
What You Can Do?
Plastic is a substance which we (and which was not addressed by the film)
are exposed to on a regular basis. So-called "inert" vinyl, found in
PVC pipes, vinyl siding, shower curtains, car dashboards, etc., emits small
doses of toxic chemicals, which also pose serious concerns.