Phthalates in our food

Abstract

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to make plastics softer and more flexible. They are used in hundreds of products, such as vinyl flooring, adhesives, detergents, lubricating oils, automotive plastics, plastic clothes (raincoats) and personal-care products (soaps, shampoos, hair sprays and nail polishes). People are exposed to phthalates by eating and drinking foods that have been in contact with containers and products containing phthalates. To a lesser extent, exposure can occur from breathing in air that contains vapors or dust contaminated with phthalate particles. Once phthalates enter a person's body, they are converted into breakdown products that pass out quickly in urine. However, biomonitoring studies that measure urine metabolites in humans show widespread exposure to phthalates. Phthalates have been labeled as potential endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) because studies have demonstrated that they interfere with hormones of the reproductive system. Recently, we reported for the first time concentrations of phthalates in United States food and used these finding to estimate dietary phthalate intake.1 The estimated intakes for individual phthalates in our study were more than an order of magnitude lower than EPA Reference Doses (RfDs), but more studies are needed to evaluate cumulative exposure to phthalates as byproducts of food consumption.