Where
do they come from?
Most fake trees (85%)
in the U.S. are imported from China. Almost 10 Million fake
trees were sold worldwide in 2003. The U.S. Commerce Dept.
tracks the
Import of Fake Trees
What
are the factories like where they're made?
As noted in the
Washington Post, "On the concrete floors of Zhang's Shuitou
Company factory, migrant workers, most earning about $100 a
month, squat in front of hissing machinery as they melt chips
into moldable plastic..."
Read the full article.
What
are fake trees made of?
Most artificial
Christmas trees are made of metals and plastics. The plastic
material, typically PVC, can be a potential source of hazardous
lead.
Read a warning about them from the Children's Health
Environmental Coalition.
Why
do some artificial trees carry a warning label?
The potential for
lead poisoning is great enough that fake trees made in China are
required by California Prop 65 to have a warning label.
Read more about the effects of lead poisoning.
Learn more about lead in artificial trees.
Why
did the USDA quarantine some artificial trees?
Some fake trees have
a wooden center pole. In 2004, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture placed a quarantine on fake trees from China, which
had a potentially harmful beetle in the center pole.
Learn more about the quarantine.
Who
decided to make a fake Christmas tree?
Actually fake trees
were invented by a company who made toilet bowl brushes, the
Addis Brush Company. Regardless of how far the technology has
come, it's still interesting to know the first fake Christmas
trees were really just big green toilet bowl brushes.
Read the article.
Are
fake trees really fireproof?
Overloaded electrical
outlets and faulty wires are the most common causes of holiday
fires in residences - these are just as likely to affect
artificial trees as Real Trees. See below for examples:
Lights on Christmas Tree Spark KC House Fire
Giving Tree Fire Damage $1 Million
In 2004, the
Farmington Hills Fire Department in metropolitan Detroit
conducted a test of how real and artificial trees react in a
house fire. The artificial tree, which was advertised as “flame
retardant,” did resist the flames for an amount of time, but
then was engulfed in flames and projected significant heat and
toxic smoke, containing hydrogen chloride gas and dioxin.
Are
fake trees better for the environment?
As mentioned before,
most artificial trees are manufactured in China and contain PVC
(polyvinyl chloride). In fact, artificial Christmas Trees were
recently added to the
Center for Health, Environment & Justice's list of household
products containing PVC.
According to the
Children's Health Environmental Coalition, the manufacture
of PVC creates and disperses dioxins, which include the most
toxic man-made chemical known. Released into air or water,
dioxins enter the food chain, where they accumulate in fatty
tissues of animals and humans, a potential risk for causing
cancer, damaging immune functions and impairing children's
development.
This issue is
especially concerning due to China's weak enforcement of
environmental regulations. Delta Farm Press recently addressed
China's environmental crisis in
this article.
