PVC and "Off Gassing"

[The_Boaphile]

PVC and "Off Gassing"

I am not sure of the origin of the discussion regarding PVC gassing but here are my two cents worth. Before I began building "Boaphile Plastics" I had been a Cabinet Maker for 15 years. As a cabinet maker I was aware that particle board products "gassed" formaldehyde. Occasionally we would have customers purchase special particle board that did not contain any formaldehyde. This product was about 50% more expensive that the regular materials. A small amount really in the grand scheme of things. The data they gave us was that 95% of all gassing occurred in the first month after manufacture of the cabinets. This makes sense as the product is very fresh and while stacked 4' high there would be nowhere for those gases to go. The last 5% supposedly would gas off over the lifetime of the product. I have not found any real data but suspect that the same thing may be true of PVC. PVC is a petroleum product and as such chemicals are used in the production of it. So I'm sure there are compounds that taken in inordinate amount may be harmful.

Generally all synthetic products may gas off to some extent or another. Shoot cows gas off dangerous levels of methane that scientist believe has harmed the environment. Every time we expel out own methane, sorry about the nasty analogy, we expel a poisonous gas. Does that gas harm us? I know of no study that says it does. The only information I have been able to find on PVC gassing is published by groups that have an ax to grind or in other words are generally against advancement of mankind and totally anti petroleum products and the like. These are the "Environmental whackos". So I think it is likely unreasonable to actually believe that there is any real danger from this PVC. PVC like other synthetic products is not an all natural product. I'm sure there have not been any studies on the effects of PVC on Herps as there have only been cages built from PVC for a few years now.

I guess cages could be all glass since I think glass doesn't gas off since it is essentially a natural product. But don't use silicone to seal those edges. That could be dangerous couldn't it? Silicone is a petroleum product as well and you are supposed to only use it in a well ventilated area. Don't use melamine either unless you get the formaldehyde free melamine because you will be poisoning your charges. I don't think any sort of plastic should be used at all either as they can gas off the byproducts of production. So this leaves glass and wood. I mean real wood. But you can't use just any wood. Oak produces tannic acid which can be toxic. An all pine cage probably isn't the best choice either with the oils and strong aroma that can come from it. Oh yea, don't use any sort of sealer on the wood either as these contain chemicals that could be dangerous to your herps.

Of course I am being obnoxious and sarcastic trying to illustrate the absurdity of this concern in the grand scheme of things. PVC has been used for most plumbing that we have all been drinking water from out entire lives. To think that now a plastic cage is a portable gas chamber I think is a little over the edge or a bit of an overreaction to an imagined danger. I'm sure nobody has actually done any sort of study regarding the use of PVC in Reptile cages vs. anything else either. So why scream fire when there isn't even any smoke?