CHEJ highlights several toxic chemicals and the communities fighting to keep their citizens safe from harm.
Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) is a manmade chemical and is the most common member of a class of chemicals called phthalates. DEHP is used as a plasticizer, meaning it is added to plastics to make them more flexible, transparent, and durable. DEHP is commonly used as a plasticizer in consumer products such as tablecloths, shower curtains, rainwear, garden hoses, plastic tubing, upholstery, flooring, and food packaging containers. It can also be used as a fragrance ingredient in personal care products such as perfume, laundry detergent, and air fresheners.
When DEHP is added to plastics, over time it can leach out of those products and into the surrounding environment. For instance, when it is used in plastic food packaging, it can leach out of the plastic and into the food it’s holding. Eating this contaminated food is the most likely way people are exposed to DEHP. When it leaches out of household products like upholstery, flooring, and shower curtains, it sticks to dust particles that people may then accidentally inhale or ingest. DEHP is also added to some medical tubing, so some procedures like blood transfusions and kidney dialysis may also lead to exposure.
Exposure to DEHP is associated with reproductive dysfunction in humans. In men, it is linked to lower testosterone and sperm motility. In pregnant women, it is linked to preterm birth. While it is not known if DEHP causes cancer in humans, in studies of laboratory animals, exposure caused liver, pancreatic, and testicular cancer. The US Department of Health and Human Services classifies DEHP as reasonably anticipated to cause cancer in humans. The US Environmental Protection Agency classifies it as a probable cancer-causing agent in humans.
DEHP exposure is harmful to human health and the US government knows it – in 2008 the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act made it illegal to sell children’s products that contain more than 0.1% DEHP. However, DEHP is still allowed in a wide variety of products that end up in homes, businesses, healthcare facilities, and landfills. Additional regulation to require products to be free of DEHP would have a crucial impact on limiting exposure and the reproductive and cancer harm that come with it.
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