The Surprising Journey of Pop-Up Pools and Health Concerns
- Ashlee Neumann
- Aug 5, 2023
- 6 min read
Exploring the Origins, Modern Materials, and Health Risks of Pop-Up Pools especialyl for women and children.
Diving into the Past: Origins and Materials of the Pop-up Pool
The 1960’s was a time known for innovation and novel material inventions all with the final goal to make our lives easier. Like many other innovations that are now overfilling landfills and oceans the story of the pop-up pool is the same. Men were becoming more connected to their families (the male wedding ring entered into fashion around this time as well) and as part of this families were looking for ways to get out of the house together, but faced with gasoline shortages drives to community pools or longer drives to lakes, rivers and oceans could have been an obstacle. Enter the pop-up or originally branded “Kiddie” pool.
These early pop-up pools were constructed with the same materials that we use today:
Vinyl: the most common material used providing affordability and durability
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): a vinyl polymer that was used with other materials to give the pool more shape and stability and now the most widely used material.
Plastics: Many different types of plastics were being introduced during this time but the main was High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), and speciality trademark plastics such as Velon and Bakelite
Rubber and Canvas: Were also used but not as widely
Firestone's Velon was made from a combination of vinyl and nylon fibers and oddly enough was celebrated for being plastic. Often with the climate and plastic crisis the younger generation has a harder time understanding why their parents and grandparents are resistant to change, and I think a good portion comes from advertising confusion.
Our grandparents and parents grew up in a time when plastic was celebrated for its function and humans too hopeful to ask questions. In these moments I often wonder what is my plastic? Is there something being sold that will be the next plastic, lead and asbestos?
Bakelite
Bakelite is considered one of the earliest synthetic plastics created through a chemical reaction between phenol (a type of organic compound derived from coal tar) and formaldehyde (a simple organic compound). The reaction forms a thermosetting resin, which means that once it is molded and cured under heat and pressure, it becomes a hard and rigid material that cannot be re-melted or reshaped.
Bakelite was widely used in the early 20th century for various applications, including electrical insulators, automotive components, and household items like buttons, handles, and kitchenware. It was appreciated for its electrical non-conductivity, heat resistance, and ability to retain its shape and strength under high temperatures.
Bakelite itself is not considered toxic, but when dealing with vintage or historical Bakelite items, it is crucial to be aware of potential hazards. Vintage Bakelite products may contain lead-based pigments, which were used in the coloring process before the hazards of lead were well understood (we will get into lead in september as it still is being used in our products). Therefore, it's advisable to handle vintage Bakelite items with caution and avoid ingestion or prolonged skin contact.
Belly-Flop into the Present: Why Pop-up Pools Hold an Increased Health Risk
If you look at these ads there was a clear company and brand selling them and manufacturing was in the early stages of globalization so there might have been more control over the materials. There are two big factors that are different now than when these pools originally hit the market.
These pools might have been just as toxic if not more in the early 60’s and maybe even up until the 80’s or 90’s but it wasn’t being widely tested.
The next factor is that when these pools were initially released there were fewer toxic chemicals being used globally, fewer plastics in daily life, and there was not yet concern for bioaccumulation or how constant and steady exposure to these chemicals would impact human health.
Since the consumer products industry is largely unregulated I think we can assume that no one was thinking about human health. It was a time of “American Prosperity” and every company was trying to get new products to market.
What we now know about Polyvinyl chloride.
During my undergraduate degree I conducted a very poorly designed chemistry experiment related to PVC degradation in ocean like (low pH or basic conditions) water and if over time the degradation of PVC would result in pH change because of the possibility that chloride could react to form hydrochloric acid. I was alarmed even then with how widely used PVC is in our lives for plumbing, pools and so many things related to water that I was uneasy wondering, is this truly stable or what is the risk to people and the planet.
It turns out that there is a health and environmental risk with the use of polyvinyl chloride that largely stems from the chemicals required to produce PVC. Phthalates are used in the production of PVC to make pvc pop up pools easier to mold and shape.
What is a phthalate and why are they bad for me?
Phthalates (pronounced "THA-lates") are like little “helpers” that make the plastic soft and flexible. Phthalates are a group of chemicals known as esters and only contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.The most common phthalate used in consumer products is called diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP). At this point are you wondering, “why if phthalate is only made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen can it be so hazardous to my health?”
The health impact is from how these atoms are arranged and that a phthalate structure is similar to estrogen and androgens. Because phthalates are similar to estrogen and androgens in our body they can interfere with hormone production, signaling, and metabolism. An example- I am sure you have seen the videos of birds or fish eating a plastic bag thinking its something else from a Jellyfish to another fish, and maybe you have thought dang why can’t they tell that apart. This is exactly how our body sees phthalates in our mind we wish we could just will our body to recognize the difference between phthalates and our own hormones, but we can’t.
Phthalates do leave the body usually after 24-48 hours BUT we are constantly exposed meaning that these chemicals mimicking our own hormones are always in our body. They enter through almost any plastic that touches our skin or things we ingest. For example pop-up pools they leach into the water and then we float in it or a baby gets it in their mouth and they are exposed, food packaging, water bottles etc. The only way to get to a low phthalate exposure (not zero with so much of these chemicals in our environment I don’t see that we will ever be at 0 again) is to heavily reduce the amount of plastics in your daily life.
So what do I do about my pop-up pool? I am boiling this summer.
Make swimming a community activity and find a community pool in your area (I realize that this might not be an option for everyone even in Austin, Texas our public pools close in August and we are sweating until October)
The high $$$ option a Soft and cold tub that you can use all year (A soft tub has been on my want list for years but at the price tag of $5,000 this honestly isn’t the most reasonable option)
Look for brands that display BPA and phthalate free (I try not to endorse any brands but if you want to know please post a comment or send me a message)
How to Dispose of your Summer Pools
I can not in good conscious advice to just toss whatever pop-up pool that you are using. I myself used a PVC Summer Waves pool for about 3 years and went down this rabbit hole this year because the pool seams finally gave out and I went for a dip to find an empty pool.
If your pool has functioning parts post to marketplace to see if someone else could use the part. For me the pump and poles were still good and people from facebook came and picked those up
Check your local recycling, in Austin the PVC can go into the recycling bin
Patch for me the leak was the entire bottom seam was just old but look to see if you can mend the pool before getting rid of it.
Drop any questions or comments below.
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