A recent report by Australia's well-respected Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) discussed the "new car smell" with which we are all familiar, and suggested that the sources of the odors might present some risks to health. Some subsequent news stories cited vinyl, and the plasticizers in it, as one source of the smell, and a possible health risk. Since then, some special interest organizations have been stating that phthalates are the cause of the odor.
Those subsequent stories and statements are wrong. The CSIRO report named nine different substances found in the new-car interior air that could be a problem in high concentrations, none of which is typically found in vinyl. Neither vinyl nor phthalates are mentioned or referenced in the CSIRO report.
A recent report by Australia's well-respected Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) discussed the "new car smell" with which we are all familiar, and suggested that the sources of the odors might present some risks to health. Some subsequent news stories cited vinyl, and the plasticizers in it, as one source of the smell, and a possible health risk. Since then, some special interest organizations have been stating that phthalates are the cause of the odor.
