Indian scientists believe they have discovered a way to make safer plastics.
The chemicals known as phthalates, which are incorporated into PVC to make it softer and more pliable, have been accused of causing cancer by environmental campaigners. Groups such as Greenpeace have been trying to get them banned. The new Indian process, reported in the science journal Nature, is targeted at medical PVC equipment to prevent phthalates entering the bloodstream of patients undergoing dialysis or blood transfusions. It might also be useful to treat PVC cling-film sometimes used to wrap food and possibly children's PVC toys, which have been the focus of green concerns. However, DEHP can leach out of PVC and into body fluids and has been found in stored blood products as well as the body fluids of patients.