Yellow new growth

[FarmerGreen]

any idea what it is in the plastic so that those of us who build our own cabs dont accidentally put in the poisoness ingredient

 

[HeadyPete]

Just goes to illustrate the kind of toxic off gassing we breathe everyday surrounded by tons of synthetic/plastic products. New carpet is one of the worst for that.

and we wonder why people are getting sicker these days.....

 

[HeadyPete]

Most likely the plastic tent is made of PVC:

Phthalate plasticizers

Many vinyl products contain additional chemicals to change the chemical consistency of the product. Some of these additional chemicals called additives can leach out of vinyl products. Plasticizers that must be added to make PVC flexible have been an additive of particular concern.

Because soft PVC toys have been made for babies for years, there are concerns that these additives leach out of soft toys into the mouths of the children chewing on them. Additionally, adult sex toys have been demonstrated to leach significant additives.[citation needed] In January 2006, the European Union placed a ban on six types of phthalate softeners, including DEHP (diethylhexyl phthalate), used in toys (See directive 2005/84/EC). In the USA most companies have voluntarily stopped manufacturing PVC toys with DEHP and in 2003 the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) denied a petition for a ban on PVC toys made with an alternative plasticizer, DINP (diisononyl phthalate).[10] In April 2006, the European Chemicals Bureau of the European Commission published an assessment of DINP which found risk "unlikely" for children and newborns.[11]

Vinyl IV bags used in neo-natal intensive care units have also been shown to leach DEHP. In a draft guidance paper published in September 2002, the US FDA recognizes that many medical devices with PVC containing DEHP are not used in ways that result in significant human exposure to the chemical[1]. However, FDA is suggesting that manufacturers consider eliminating the use of DEHP in certain devices that can result in high aggregate exposures for sensitive patient populations such as neonates.

Other vinyl products, including car interiors, shower curtains, flooring, initially release chemical gases into the air. Some studies indicate that this outgassing of additives may contribute to health complications, but this information is preliminary, and further study is needed.

In 2004, a joint Swedish-Danish research team found a statistical association between allergies in children and indoor air levels of DEHP and BBzP (butyl benzyl phthalate), which is used in vinyl flooring.[12] In December 2006, the European Chemicals Bureau of the European Commission released a final draft risk assessment of BBzP which found "no concern" for consumer exposure including exposure to children.[13]

In November 2005, one of the largest hospital networks in the U.S., Catholic Healthcare West, signed a contract with B.Braun for vinyl-free intravenous bags and tubing.[14] According to the Center for Health, Environment & Justice in Falls Church, VA, which helps to coordinate a "precautionary" " PVC Campaign", several major corporations including Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and Kaiser Permanente announced efforts to eliminate PVC from products and packaging in 2005. Even Target now does not sell items with PVC. (http://besafenet.com/pvc/newsreleases/target_to_reduce_use.htm)

According to an article on FOXNews.com, "PVC plastic has been used safely for more than 70 years in a variety of medical and commercial applications and humans. No reports of adverse human health effects have been reported from intravenous (IV) bags and medical tubing made with PVC, according to a 2002 report by the Food and Drug Administration."[15]

[edit] Vinyl chloride monomer

In the late 1960s, Dr. John Creech and Dr. Maurice Johnson were the first to clearly link and recognize the carcinogenicity of vinyl chloride monomer to humans when workers in the polyvinyl chloride polymerization section of a B.F. Goodrich plant near Louisville, Kentucky, were diagnosed with liver angiosarcoma, a rare disease.[16] Since that time, studies of PVC workers in Australia, Italy, Germany, and the UK have all associated certain types of occupational cancers with exposure to vinyl chloride. The link between angiosarcoma of the liver and long-term exposure to vinyl chloride is the only one that has been confirmed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. All the cases of angiosarcoma developed from exposure to vinyl chloride monomer, were in workers who were exposed to very high VCM levels, routinely, for many years.

A 1997 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report concluded that the development and acceptance by the PVC industry of a closed loop polymerization process in the late 1970s "almost completely eliminated worker exposures" and that "new cases of hepatic angiosarcoma in vinyl chloride polymerization workers have been virtually eliminated."[17]

According to the EPA, "vinyl chloride emissions from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene dichloride (EDC), and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plants cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to result in an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible illness. Vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen that causes a rare cancer of the liver."[18] EPA's 2001 updated Toxicological Profile and Summary Health Assessment for VCM in its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database lowers EPA's previous risk factor estimate by a factor of 20 and concludes that "because of the consistent evidence for liver cancer in all the studies...and the weaker association for other sites, it is concluded that the liver is the most sensitive site, and protection against liver cancer will protect against possible cancer induction in other tissues."[19]

A 1998 front-page series in the Houston Chronicle claimed the vinyl industry has manipulated vinyl chloride studies to avoid liability for worker exposure and to hide extensive and severe chemical spills into local communities.[20] Retesting of community residents in 2001 by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) found dioxin levels similar to those in a comparison community in Louisiana and to the U.S. population.[21] Cancer rates in the community were similar to Louisiana and US averages.[22]

[edit] Dioxins

The environmentalist group Greenpeace has advocated the global phase-out of PVC because they claim dioxin is produced as a byproduct of vinyl chloride manufacture and from incineration of waste PVC in domestic garbage. The European Industry, however, asserts[citation needed] that it has improved production processes to minimize dioxin emissions. Dioxins are a global health threat because they persist in the environment and can travel long distances. At very low levels, near those to which the general population is exposed, dioxins have been linked[citation needed] to immune system suppression, reproductive disorders, a variety of cancers, and endometriosis. According to a 1994 report by the British firm, ICI Chemicals & Polymers Ltd., "It has been known since the publication of a paper in 1989 that these oxychlorination reactions [used to make vinyl chloride and some chlorinated solvents] generate polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs). The reactions include all of the ingredients and conditions necessary to form PCDD/PCDFs.... It is difficult to see how any of these conditions could be modified so as to prevent PCDD/PCDF formation without seriously impairing the reaction for which the process is designed." In other words, dioxins are an undesirable byproduct of polymerizing PVC and eliminating the production of dioxins while maintaining the polymerization reaction may be difficult. Dioxins created by vinyl chloride production are released by on-site incinerators, flares, boilers, wastewater treatment systems and even in trace quantities in vinyl resins.[23] The US EPA estimate of dioxin releases from the PVC industry was 13 grams TEQ in 1995, or less than 0.5% of the total dioxin emissions in the US; by 2002, PVC industry dioxin emissions had been further reduced by 23%.[24]

The largest well-quantified source of dioxin in the US EPA inventory of dioxin sources is barrel burning of household waste.[25] Studies of household waste burning indicate consistent increases in dioxin generation with increasing PVC concentrations.[26] According to the EPA dioxin inventory, landfill fires are likely to represent an even larger source of dioxin to the environment. A survey of international studies consistently identifies high dioxin concentrations in areas affected by open waste burning and a study that looked at the homologue pattern found the sample with the highest dioxin concentration was "typical for the pyrolysis of PVC". Other EU studies indicate that PVC likely "accounts for the overwhelming majority of chlorine that is available for dioxin formation during landfill fires."[27]

The next largest sources of dioxin in the EPA inventory are medical and municipal waste incinerators.[28] Studies have shown a clear correlation between dioxin formation and chloride content and indicate that PVC is a significant contributor to the formation of both dioxin and PCB in incinerators.[29]

In February 2007, the Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) released its report on a PVC avoidance related materials credit for the LEED Green Building Rating system. The report concludes that "no single material shows up as the best across all the human health and environmental impact categories, nor as the worst" but that the "risk of dioxin emissions puts PVC consistently among the worst materials for human health impacts."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_chloride

 

[ufoman]

Response to Farmer Green

Response to Farmer Green

Hi Farmer Green,

You asked:

any idea what it is in the plastic so that those of us who build our own cabs dont accidentally put in the poisoness ingredient

Sorry bud, I have no idea what the specific substance is that is causing the lockout with MJ plants. Go to the hydrohuts website and click on the 'contact us' link and ask the guy at the company. His name is 'Joseph' so you can address your note directly to him. Hey man, I'm just glad this outfit is being responsible with its customers and offering to fix the problem at no expense to them. They are at least willing to stand behind the stuff they put out there.

I just hope that the out-gassing from the plastic that had such a deadly effect on my plants isn't rotting what's left of my aging 'twig & berries' - or something else equally horrible.

Back to lurking for me. Nice to meet all you guys. Hope the info helped.

PEACE & Happy Growing!

UFOman

 

[ufoman]

Hi HeadyPete,

Just goes to illustrate the kind of toxic off gassing we breathe everyday surrounded by tons of synthetic/plastic products. New carpet is one of the worst for that.

and we wonder why people are getting sicker these days.....

Funny, my wife made the exact same point - almost word for word. It's a sad but true fact my brother... humanity shits where it eats. Just look at the oceans, we use them as both a 'toilet' and a 'food-source.'

Until both business/industry and consumers adopt a joint policy of carefully researching and monitoring the long term ramifications of some of the substances we introduce into our bodies and the environment, then the cancer rates, untreatable diseases and earth changes will continue to escalate.

The native people had it right! Living in harmony with the earth/environment is the only way. All you need to do to see the results of our insane societies' 'rape, pillage and plunder' policy toward nature and each other is to watch the six o'clock news.

We all better sane-up real fast.

PEACE,

UFOman

 

[MynameStitch]

omg I love that quote, it's so true too!

humanity shits where it eats. Just look at the oceans, we use them as both a 'toilet' and a 'food-source.'

 

[HeadyPete]

As long as the almighty dollar trumps everything, people will always destroy themselves for that false god.

We must change our "profits over everything" mentality. Human lives mean nothing against big profits to these business sociopaths, just look at how the tobacco industry operates...they kill people for profit.

 

[ufoman]

Follow-up:

Got my huts back from California. No problems with the plants... so far. Whatever they did to the plastic seems to have worked.

Moral: Be careful when adding _any_ plastic to a grow room. Ask about 'out-gassing' before you buy plastic materials that will be incorporated into your grow environment. It 'could' cost you precious crops and plants if you don't check it out before hand. I lost a whole year and three crops over this BS. Take a lesson boys.

PEACE - Happy growing to All....

UFOman