About Phthalates

There are many phthalates, also known as phthalate esters, each with its own set of negative health effects. Phthalates are technically in the class of chemicals known as dialkyl or alkyl aryl esters of 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, and about one billion pounds of them are produced each year. They have been used in a wide range of products in homes, offices, hospitals, and businesses for over 50 years. Phthalates are included in toys, vinyl flooring, wire insulation, shower curtains, synthetic leathers, food packaging, detergents, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, as well as medical devices such as blood bags, syringes, heart valves and medical tubing. They add softness and flexibility to the plastic. Most soft and flexible vinyl products contain phthalate esters as a plasticizer. Your new car gets its odor from them and the windows of it get "fogged" because it condenses there. 

Phthalates transform a rigid plastic into a soft and pliable plastic. Without them many plastics would not be very useful or profitable. PVC manufacturers are quite fearful of not being able to use them because of possible future regulation. They are willing to spend extremely large sums of money to prevent this from happening. One of the methods they employ is lobbying and political campaign contributions. Literally millions of dollars are spent on plastics lobbying each year. Without limiting or ending political campaign contributions, the profit of corporations will always come before the health of the people. 

Many phthalates have shown hormonal activity in animal studies. This is to say that phthalates can and do mimic hormones in animals in concentrations that can be measured in parts-per-trillion (ppt). To get an idea of what 1ppt looks like, imagine one drop of water in 660 rail tank cars, or a train 6 miles long. There are NO regulations that protect anyone from that level of concentration in the body. Levels of some phthalates have been found in ppt and higher. The American Chemistry Council (ACC) promotes the idea that no scientifically validated instance of adverse health effects in children or adults. They would have us assume that this is proof that no harm has or will occur. However, this is not a valid scientific assumption.

The ACC would have us focus on high level exposures, taking our attention away from low level exposures. It would be wiser at this point in time to pay attention to those low level doses which can be extremely subtle with long lasting multigenerational effects. There is a great deal of scientific evidence of harm to animals by phthalates, enough to warrant precaution with regards to human use or contact. And indeed the production and/or use of them at all is not wise at all. 

In 1999, an American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) panel, headed by former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop and including a number of so-called "distinguished scientific experts," concluded that phthalate use in medical devices “is not harmful to humans even under chronic or higher-than-average conditions of exposure.” ACSH is mostly funded by the corporations that it advocates for. A scientific review of the ACSH panel's work tells a completely different story.

Many of these chemicals can and do act with others to form a synergistically more toxically powerful mixture. Synergy is also a concept that the ACC disputes with a passion. However it has been scientifically validated more than once. So, to have any US or EU regulatory agency state that phthalates are safe is more an indication of the level of science employed by those agencies than a clean bill of health for phthalates. 

We could ask what level of denial they are willing to stoop to in order to satisfy industry? But "they" are industry. And industry is them. The difference between industry, academia and government is almost too blurred to discern a difference. High level personnel of one bounces back and forth, to and fro, between the others effecting the changes required for industry to accomplish its goal of power and control.

Another point stressed by the ACC is that phthalates do not cause cancer. While there is no validity in this concept, we must stress that cancer is not the only endpoint--harmful effect--that can be and is caused by phthalates. The mimicking of hormones is a serious effect that reaches all areas of a person's body and spirit. Hormones are produced in many organs of the body and effect a wide range of functions that include all of the body.

In the real world, children are exposed to phthalates and other hormonally active chemicals in combinations that are not predictable or reproducible. Therefore we will never know exactly what they do. There are more than 87,000 chemicals in commercial use presently. We know almost nothing about most of them. And what we do know is insufficient to come to any judgment of complete safety. But even if we know all there is to know about each one of the 87,000 chemicals in commercial use, or the more than 3 million registered chemicals that exist, the possible combinations of those chemicals would need to be studied just as deeply. 

There is not enough money or time in the whole world to do this kind of study. Think of the number of combinations using just 10 numbers as the telephone does. Using just a handful of digits, there are enough telephone numbers for all that exist. A fourteen digit telephone number will connect you with most telephones from anywhere in the world. 

Children handle and mouth toys, eat meals, drink liquids, breathe air, sit on floors in rooms, swim in pools that all contain hormonally active chemicals including phthalates. They may act in any number of combinations that are not at all predictable.

In March 1998 the European Commission raised the issue of exposures to phthalates from certain children's products for discussion with European Member States. Recently, in 2001, the FDA voiced concern about the use of DEHP, a phthalate:

"It is possible that the effects observed in animal studies could occur in humans. However, there are no human studies to date that show such effects. DEHP-containing medical devices have been used on newborn babies for many years without apparent ill effects, although studies have not been conducted that would rule out effects in humans." 

The fact that no human studies have been done does not in any way mean that DEHP is safe. It only means that no human studies have been done. It is an undeniable scientific fact that nothing more can be said than that.

"The Phthalate Esters Panel of the American Chemistry Council, comprised of all the major manufacturers of phthalates in the U.S. and some users, has sponsored health and safety research on phthalates for decades. Resulting data and conclusions are peer-reviewed and published in respected scientific journals such as Toxicological Sciences, Reproductive Toxicology, Fundamental and Applied Toxicology, and Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. These studies have not found any scientifically validated evidence of harm to human health." - from an ACC website http://www.phthalates.org/html/pegenfaq.htm 12mar02

They also state that "[p]lasticizer producers are committed to providing the public with safe compounds -- in raw materials and finished products. For twenty-five years these compounds have been researched and tested so they can be used safely. Based on the best evidence to date, the Panel strongly believes phthalates are safe and pose no hazard to children or adults when properly used in vinyl products. The Panel is committed to continued research and testing of phthalate esters and will work closely with government agencies so that these products can continue to be used safely. The Phthalate Esters Panel enthusiastically endorses flexible vinyl products."

Industry Disinformation
Without analyzing the ACC claims of safety, they would seem truthful. The explanations of safety by industry are but semantics—a manipulation of words meant to confuse and disinform consumers. We, on the other hand, prefer to utilize the knowledge that exists today and exhibit precaution. For more on precaution, please see our Precautionary Principal files.