A study issued by an environmental advocacy group called the Center for Health, Environment and Justice found that the “new shower curtain smell” is caused, in fact, by the emission of several toxic chemicals.

According to the study, polyvinyl chloride curtains, or better known as PVC shower curtains, contain at least seven substances, methyl isobutyl ketone, toluene, ethylbenzene, acetophenone phenol, xylene, and cumene that are considered to be air pollutants.

Some of these substances could apparently cause damage to the central nervous, reproductive and respiratory systems, study says.

However, the specialists consider that the amount of these substances that is found in shower curtains is not large enough to pose any threat to consumers.

During last years, more and more companies and retailers have cut back the number of PVC based shower curtains that they produce or sell, in favor for the more environmental friendly ethylene vinyl acetate ones. IKEA has been a pioneer in doing this. For the last 11 years the company hasn’t produced or sold PVC shower curtains in the United States.

What is more, the recent trend is to announce the consumers via labeling whether the shower curtain they are planning to buy is made of PVC or not.

According to the advocacy group, all PVC products are bad for the environment and for the health of the people that come in touch with them, but the products that are used to soften the material, like phthalates and organotins, pose even more danger, since they are both more toxic and quicker to evaporate.