Description

Phthalates are a class of chemicals used as softeners, or plasticizers, in polyvinyl chloride (PVC, vinyl) products, including children’s toys, decorating and building products, blood bags, and solvents and other additives in a wide range of consumer products, including cosmetics, personal care products, wood finishes and insecticides.

DEHP and DINP are used in flexible plastic and vinyl toys, some teethers, food packaging and cling wraps, medical devices, backpacks, shower curtains, building materials such as pipes, vinyl flooring and wallpaper, and other products.

DBP and DEP are used in some adhesives, dyesinks, mosquito insect repellents, plastic plumbing pipes, and personal care products such as nail polish, skin moisturizers, and perfumes.

Note: The carcinogenicity of DEP, DBP and DINP to humans is unknown at this time.

Health Effects

Immediate Health Effects

If SWALLOWED, phthalates is Slightly Toxic
If ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN, phthalates is Moderately Toxic
If INHALED (SNIFFED OR BREATHED IN), phthalates is Slightly Toxic

Longterm or Delayed Health Effects

This chemical is likely to cause cancer. It is considered a Probable Carcinogen by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or another agency.
Allergen
Suspected Endocrine Disruptor = May interfere with, mimic or block hormones
Development Toxicant = Can interfere with normal development of a fetus or child
Reproductive Toxicant = Can harm reproductive system

Other

Birth defects, including cleft palate and in male reproductive organs, due to prenatal exposure. In laboratory animals, exposure to some phthalates prior to or after birth caused damaged, shrunken, undescended, or atrophied testicles; reduced sperm production; destruction of Sertoli cells, which produce sperm; lowered testosterone levels in offspring and ovarian abnormalities. In humans, some studies have found decreased sperm counts and damaged sperm in men with higher levels of some phthalates.
Prenatal exposure may increase a child’s risk of developing behavioral problems in childhood.
Some indication that a mother’s exposure to phthalates may shorten her pregnancy by one week.
DEHP causes liver cancer in laboratory animals and the EPA considers it a carcinogen.
Phthalates have been found in breast milk and may contribute to altered hormone levels in infants.
At high doses some phthalates have damaged the liver and kidneys of laboratory animals.
Respiratory difficulties in children with bronchial obstruction (such as asthma).

How Exposures Occur

Drinking Water

DEHP may be found in some public or private drinking water supplies. The Safe Drinking Water Act regulated DEHP levels in public water supplies, but not in well water. Other forms of phthalates, which may also be found in drinking water, however, are not regulated.

Eating Contaminated Food

Phthalates can enter foods and infant formulas from plastic tubing used during food processing or from plastic and paper packaging. Phthalates can also contaminate food earlier through background environmental contamination levels. The highest concentrations tend to be in fatty foods, such as milk and dairy products, fish, meat and vegetable oils.

Inhalation

Children can inhale phthalates that are released from vinyl (PVC) products into indoor air.

IV Tubing

IV tubing and other medical devices used for ill infants/children. An expert panel expressed “serious concern” about DEHP as used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) medical tubing and other medical devices for feeding and medicating critically ill newborn infants and for assisting their breathing. The panel said such procedures might result in exposures to DEHP that are much higher than for the general population and could affect development of the male reproductive system.

Mouthing or Chewing Vinyl Products

Infants and children may swallow small amounts of phthalates when they chew soft vinyl teethers, toys, raincoats, and vinyl miniblinds. Dust in rooms with vinyl miniblinds, wallpaper and flooring may also contain phthalates. (Sunlight causes PVC to deteriorate into dust.)

Use of Some Personal Care Products

Phthalates can be inhaled and to limited extent absorbed through the skin from some brands of perfume, nail polish, skin lotion, deodorant, and hair spray and other hair styling products. Some companies have reformulated their nail polishes without DBP. Both DBP and DEHP (in some fragrances) will be banned from products sold in European Union countries effective September 2004.

Prescription Pills

Some oral medications are coated with phthalates to control when the pills dissolve. New evidence indicates that this may be a significant source of phthalate exposure for some patients.

Significant Statistics

Any children between 0-18 months in age who mouth PVC plastic toys containing DINP for 3 hours/day exceed the recommended Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI). This implies that there may be a DINP risk for any young children who routinely mouth DINP-plasticized toys for 75 minutes/day or more.

Report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel on Diisononyl Phthalate (DINP), June 2001.http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/Foia01/os/dinp.pdf

EPA is adding eight phthalates to the Concern List under the Toxic Substances Control Act because of concern that they may present unreasonable risk to human health. It will consider a future ban on any that have evidence indicating a ban is necessary.

Phthalates Action Plan Summary. US Environmental Protection Agency. June 25, 2010.

http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/actionplans/phthalates.html.

Solutions

How to detect phthalates

Nearly all soft PVCcontains phthalates. Call toy manufacturers to ask whether favorite toys are made of PVC, and while you’re at it, express your concern. You can obtain contact information for some toy manufacturers from Greenpeace’s web site.
Read labels on personal care products: Look for chemical names that include the word phthalate on nail polish, nail polish remover, hair sprays, deodorants and perfumes. Many products may not list phthalates even when they are used. Try contacting the manufacturer. Often toll-free numbers for customer assistance are listed on labels. Ingredients are not required on fragrances, so there is no way to know if phthalates are in a fragrance. Manufacturers also do not have to list ingredients on products used exclusively by professionals such as in a salon.
Also visit Health Care Without Harm for information on products containing phthalates (based on laboratory tests). A search for “phthalate” on the National Library of Medicine’s Household Products Database will also show a list of products containing it.
Sniff Test: That ”new car” or ”plastic” smell from soft plastic toys, backpacks, teethers, raincoats and other plastic products usually comes from phthalates, which vaporize from plastic easily.
DEHP is regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. This law requires that community water systems monitor DEHP levels, and make public when levels exceed the set Maximum Contamination Level (MCL). The MCL for DEHP has also been set at 6 parts per billion. NOTE: Other phthalates are NOT regulated under the Act. Therefore, public water facilities are not required to test for them.
Community water systems are required to produce annual consumer confidence reports and mail them to every water customer.
If your water source is a well, your water is not monitored for contaminants as is required for public water supplies by the Safe Drinking Water Act. Private testing of the water is necessary.
Even if your water comes from a community water system, contaminant levels can vary from house to house. You can have your water tested by sending samples to a certified laboratory.
You can search for water quality reports from your water provider, obtain information on well water testing and find a list of state-certified drinking water laboratories at the U.S. EPA’s Office of Water’s website or call the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline, 800-426-4791.
You can search for personal care products containing phthalates on Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Searchable Product Guide website.

How to minimize exposure to phthalates

Throw away soft PVC teethers and any PVC toys (generally soft and flexible) that a child could put in his or her mouth. Replace with new items that don’t contain phthalates. An added measure of safety would be to discard any soft vinyl toy, backpack or accessory that your child owns. Find natural or hard plastic replacements aren’t made of PVC, such a cloth dolls and wooden toys, Legos®, etc.
Reduce or eliminate use of perfumes, nail polishes or other cosmetics that contain phthalates, especially if you are pregnant, thinking of getting pregnant, or if you are nursing.

Alternatives

Wooden or non-PVC plastic toys. Check with manufacturers before purchasing a toy to make sure it is free of phthalates.
Go natural. When possible, choose natural alternatives to common vinyl products. Look for hemp or linen shower curtains (which can be washed to stop mold), cloth backpacks, flooring made of wood or cork or natural linoleum, wood siding and window frames, and paperboard-covered notebooks.
Choose natural cosmetics and personal care products which can be found in natural foods stores. Check your products on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep website to see what chemicals they might contain.
For fragrance, choose pure essential oils instead of perfumes. Use discretion though—fragrances can irritate both sensitive children and adults and those that allergies or asthma. See Fragrances in Perfumes and Cosmetics for more information.
Avoid microwaving in plastics and plastic wraps.

For More information

Books, articles, factsheets and reports

Houlihan, Jane, and Richard Wiles. Beauty Secrets: Does a Common Chemical in Nail Polish Pose Risks to Human Health? Environmental Working Group, November 2000.

http://www.ewg.org/reports/beautysecrets

Houlihan, Jane, Charlotte Brody, and Bryony Schwan. Not Too Pretty: Phthalates, Beauty Products & the FDA. Health Care Without Harm, 2002.

http://www.noharm.org/lib/downloads/pvc/Not_Too_Pretty.pdf