EcoWaste Coalition warns against use of tarpaulins this poll season

Environmental watchdog EcoWaste Coalition on Sunday encouraged Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) election candidates to limit the use of cadmium-laced tarpaulins for the upcoming polls.

"Tarpaulins such as those made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic often contain cadmium, a chemical that is deemed extremely harmful to human health and the environment,” said chemical safety campaigner Thony Dizon in  a blog post on Saturday.

“Voters will surely remember candidates who have taken the trouble of visiting their homes and neighborhoods not only to shake hands but, more importantly, to chat with them about their concerns and how the barangay and the SK could be of assistance to their lives,” Dizon added.

The elections for Barangay and SK will take place on May 14.

The group had 10 campaign tarpaulins made by various sign makers in the cities of Caloocan, Quezon, and Taguig. The tarpaulins, measuring 18 x 24 inches and costing P36 to P150 each, carried the names of popular characters on television shows as Barangay and SK candidates.

They found out that the tarpaulins had cadmium in the range of 1,028 to 1,536 parts per million (ppm), which was beyond the European Union’s limit of 100 ppm for cadmium in plastics.

The group said that cadmium, which is used as a stabilizer or coloring agent in PVC plastic, belongs to the list of priority chemicals determined by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) “to potentially cause unreasonable risk to public health, workplace, and the environment.”

Dizon said that "cadmium-containing tarpaulins are adding to the growing toxicity of the waste stream that our society generates."

"The PVC plastic scraps from signage makers, as well as the used tarpaulins, are disposed of like ordinary trash and hauled to dumpsites and landfills for disposal where their cadmium and other chemical additives can be released as the materials degrade,” Dizon said.

“These chlorinated materials may also end up being burned in dumps, cement kilns and incinerators triggering the formation and release of even more toxic pollutants such as dioxins and furans,” he added.

Dizon suggested that the government must adopt a chemical control order to reduce, if not eliminate, the use of cadmium in the production of plastic and other materials and lessen their health and environmental impacts.

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers cadmium, along with arsenic, asbestos, lead and mercury, as among the “ten chemicals of major public health concern.”

According to WHO, cadmium “exerts toxic effects on the kidney, the skeletal and the respiratory systems, and is classified as a human carcinogen.” — Anna Felicia Bajo/BM, GMA News