Blaming Shower Curtains for Obesity

“Do We Really Have to Worry About Shower Curtains Causing Weight Gain?” by Geoffrey Kabat, Stats.org.
Several days ago an article titled “Is Your Shower Curtain Making You Fat?” appeared in the magazine Spry and was then reprinted in the Dodge City Daily Globe. The article drew readers’ attention to the dangers of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), giving 5 examples of chemicals used in everyday consumer products (BPA, phthalates, PVC, PFC’s, and PBDFs). With a quote from a professor of pharmacology and references to a couple of crude, published studies, the author, Catherine Winters, conveyed the message to her readers that they are surrounded by products containing EDCs that can play havoc with hormonal signaling and induce disease. The shower curtain reference was based on a study that found that shower curtains containing PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, “release up to 108 volatile organic compounds (VOC), some of which could be detected in the air 28 days after the curtain had been hung.” Read more.