Is the plastic used to shrink wrap rolls safe for long term storage or should I open it an place the coins in tubes?
To be honest I don't know. What I do know is that not all soft plastic has PVC in it. ZipLocks and baggies are soft - and they contain 0 PVC. Don't know about coin rolls though.
Good question. I do not know either. I will ask a few of the dealers tomorrow and see what the consensus is.
I followed a similar discussion on a German board between chemists ( I am a chemical engineer so I could follow the discussion somewhat ) PVC is a plastic(polyvinylchloride) like PE ( polyethylene ) and PP ( Polypropylene ) and ABS ( Acrylobutadienestyrene ) and PS ( polystyrene ) etc ..... PVC gets brittle with age and therefore a product was added called plasticiser which kind of oils the PVC but which can leach out and attack especially silver ( do not ask me why ) and therefore the concensus was to dip any new acquired coin in acetone ( this will remove the plasticiser) Some people also claimed that some of the chlorine could attack copper and give copperchoride which is green rot on coins So you want a flip or plastic without plasticiser and I guess preferably without chlorine At the bottom of attached link you will find a lot of other plastics I think 2X2 holders are Mylar and airtites and the like are acrylics I do not know what present day flips are made off but I am sure they left the plasticiser out at least http://www.psrc.usm.edu/macrog/pvc.htm You can read a lot about coinholders at following site http://rg.ancients.info/guide/holders.html
If it helps ,I bought several rolls of 1995 Lincoln cents in shrink wrap original brinks rolls just a few weeks ago, when opened the coins were fine after ten years or nearly ten years of being stored in the shrink rolls.no discoloration bright and shiney as the day they were made.
I asked a few dealers today, and none were aware of any harmful effects of these wrappers. No PVC that anyone is aware of.