Plastic is all around us, and so is the effect of that
plastic. Those of you who are as old as me will remember the early plastics: they
were brittle and unbending. Now modern plastics are soft and pliable, and this
is largely down to a group of chemicals called phthalates. (Improbable as it
seems I have spelt this correctly!)
The addition of phthalates to plastic has increased the
ways in which plastics can be used, but it has also increased our exposure to
the phthalates in the plastic - the phthalates are able to migrate out of the
plastic and into drink and food held in plastic containers. Children's plastic
toys are often sucked by young babies, giving rise to concerns about this early
exposure.
Phthalates have given us a whole new lot of uses for
plastics. They may also be giving us a whole lot of problems. Phthalates have
been linked to reproductive defects, lowered sperm counts, early puberty and
cancer; they are known as hormone-disrupters because they have been shown to
disrupt the normal levels of some hormones.
A report by the US National Association of State Public
Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) gives real cause for concern. It commissioned
an independent laboratory to carry out tests on 8 articles used by babies
(teethers, bath toys, etc.). All of them were labelled as phthalate-free, but 6
of the 8 showed detectable levels of phthalates. Manufacturers have responded that
the levels are too low to be of concern, but our understanding of what happens
to these chemicals in the body is not extensive. What we do know suggests there
is no room for complacency.
