What about EVA shower curtains? How did they rank?

A solution that I have is to buy a hotel grade cloth shower curtain liner ($10.99) that I wash once a month. It did say it was treated to resist mildew, who knows how terrible that is, but I thought it might still be better than the PVC plastic.

Aren't PVC pipes leeching chemicals into our water supplies? Most homes have PVC pipes!

I have had the same shower curtain for years since I have had migraines from the "new shower curtain smell" I just bought a $10 one, added metal grommets to the holes and it is TOTALLY WASHABLE. A little detergent usually does the trick and the grommets keep if from ripping.

I'm curious about EVA too, I recently purchased one.

My next shower curtain is going to be a hemp or linen curtain. They aren't cheap (~$50??) compared to PVC ones, but they are washable and are natural (and hemp dries much faster than cotton).

So what do I do with my 10-year-old shower curtain that still works perfectly well?

Is it still emitting toxic gases?

L

So, EVA shower curtains aren't made from PVC and (as far as I know) contain no phthalates, so that's a definite benefit. I don't know how they stack up for other chemicals -- do they smell when you open them? I'm curious.

Kevin & Lori, I think my next shower curtain will probably be cloth as well. But I probably won't be getting a new one for a while, since the one I have is just over a year old and holding up pretty well.

Which brings me to Laura: The decision of whether or not to get rid of your PVC curtain is entirely up to you. Like I said, I'm not replacing mine until I need to. Does your shower curtain still smell?

i recently bought a d-link modem and there was a strong plastic smell when i opened the box and i immediately felt sick and had a headache and felt very tired. i suspected that the plastic in it must be off-gasing and will return the product. however, the asus laptop i bought last year still has a smell that gives me a headache and makes me feel tired and nauseous. are there any laptops and computer accessories that don't use toxic plastics?

My son had pneumonia as an infant. They put a plastic curtain "croup tent" around his bed. It reeked of plastic smell. I watched briefly as his blood oxygen levels went down. The nurse refused to take the plastic sheeting away from his bed unless she had doctor's orders. Finally, when I threatened to rip it off myself, she removed it and his blood oxygen levels improved. I told the allergist from the hospital about this but he was not interested as this was not something he was studying. The same chemicals were probably in his sheeting as were in the shower curtains. My physician friend at a local children's hospital said they used sterilized croup tents, not fresh plastic ones, at her hospital.

Genevieve, my Asus was pretty pungent when I got it too, but I don't notice the smell anymore. Sounds like mild multiple-chemical sensitivity to me (http://thecanaryreport.com is a great resource).

Here's a list of companies that are removing PBDEs from their products -- electronics are towards the bottom.

Ikea shower curtains are free of PVC & other toxins. I recently purchased a new shower curtain with a huge environmentally friendly stamp on it indicating it was free of PVC, etc. from Zellers (which is owned by Sears)here in Canada. For years I had a cloth washable shower curtain but I can't find one of these yet.

to Genevieve, http://www.swedx.se (or http://www.swedx.co.uk ) makes a few wood computer peripherals. They are very nice, but there's limited customer service, since the company is in Sweden.

This is really interesting take on the concept. I never thought of it that way. I came across this site recently which I think will be of great use http://www.buygreensavvy.com . Have a look!