Phthalates and Hypospadias: Life in Plastic May Not Be Fantastic

“Plastics… There’s a great future in plastics.”

– The Graduate

Boy was Mr. McGuire onto something. There’s little in our daily lives not made of plastic. The bottles we drink water from (temporarily, or on a regular basis), the bags we carry groceries in, the containers our foods are packaged in. Very few things that we interact with on a day to day basis are outside the reach of plastic.

The very first plastics were made from plant based materials, but modern plastics are often made from synthetic base materials, with additives that change the structure of the plastic so that it’s more pliable. Think shower curtains, straws, toys that are squishy, not solid and you have an idea of the end products where the additives are used. that

A recent 60 Minutes report raises concern that phthalates, one type of additive used to soften plastics, may be cause for concern in pregnant women – particularly those carrying male children, who may have an increased risk of birth defects as a result.{60 Minutes}

Hypospadias, a condition that occurs when the urethra opens lower than normal, can cause difficulty urinating for boys. Additionally, a study on the levels of phthalates in pregnant women seemed to show a correlation between high phthalate levels in the mother and genital abnormalities which could lead to lower sperm counts and lower testosterone in adult men.

While there’s still not a definitive link between phthalates and the birth defects noted in the study, pregnant women may want to reduce their exposure, but that could prove difficult. In addition to the household products that could be suspect, phthalates can make an appearance in lipstick, hairspray and nail polish (remover included). With no requirements for listing phthalates among ingredient lists on labels, determining which products are free of the additive could be impossible short of sending everything out to a lab to be tested.

Legislation in the US recently caught up to Europe where phthalates are a banned substance in children’s toys, but this goes against findings by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and FDA that the levels of phthalates we’re exposed to on a daily basis are safe. Still, some manufacturers like Avon, Johnson & Johnson and S.C. Johnson are pulling phthalates from their products on their own accord.

Even the author of the study that led to the ban in toys admits that there’s not absolute certainty or agreement about the dangers of phthalates, but a doctor interviewed for the story suggests pregnant women “avoid environmental chemicals in total as much as you can.” {60 Minutes}

Which might be a bit easier if doing so didn’t mean needing needing a chemical analysis to find them.