By Staff Writer - February, 8th 2014

 

by Dr. David Juan

Phthalates are a group of chemicals that are used in manufacturing. Phthalates help to make plastics softer and more flexible so that they won’t crack and break. Phthalates are used in a number of different products that may find their way into your home. Your shower curtain may be made of PVC plastic. The nail polish you use or the perfume you spray on before you go out for the evening could contain phthalates. Many children’s toys and supplies contain phthalates, as do a lot of medical plastics, including IV bags and tubes made from PVC.

In the U.S., some phthalates have been banned—particularly those used in the manufacturing of children’s toys. The ban was put in place due to concerns about the adverse health effects of phthalate exposure. The FDA, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the National Toxicology Program’s Center for the Evaluation of …

Things that you need to consider before you engage to this kind of chemicals. There are eight chemical compounds in the phthalate family, some more toxic than others.  The three most potent phthalates are diethyl phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP).  Not only do they adversely affect health by themselves, but even in small doses they interact with one another in ways we don’t understand.  The dominant phthalate, DEHP, which is in, among other things, shower curtains, cable sheathing, garden hoses, and some toys, has been used so widely that it can now be found literally all over the world: in subsurface snow in Antarctica and in jellyfish more than three hundred feet below the surface of the Atlantic.

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