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The dangerous substance that is found almost everywhere and mainly harms children

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Abdominal Disorder and Darkness Behavioral Problems - A new and comprehensive study warns of the health dangers involved in prolonged exposure to phthalates especially for infants and pregnant women.

How can the risk be reduced?

Tags

• Babies

• Pregnancy

• Plastic

• brain

Omar Yerushalmi, Angle

Monday, 12 April 2021, 11:19

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Found everywhere and within reach of your babies.

Baby playing at university (Photo: ShutterStock)

Phthalates, a family of synthetic chemicals used primarily as plastics additives, have been dubbed "Everywhere Chemicals".

Indeed, they can be found in countless products that we use daily, such as plastic packaging, cosmetics, building materials and cleaning products, pesticides, building materials, detergents, fragrance products, children's toys, paints and coatings, medical devices and textiles. .

Researchers have long pointed to the link between their presence in many consumer products and a range of health effects, ranging from experiments in laboratory animals in which a variety of hormonal disorders were found (in the development of the male reproductive system, congenital malformations in the reproductive system and genitals, lower testosterone levels in puberty). Premature sexuality in females, low sperm count in adults) as well as low birth weight and preterm birth, and up to a number of similar effects in humans, such as impaired male sexual development, impaired brain development and increased risk of developing learning disorders, attention and behavior and lip delay.

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To the full article

Now, a new review article published in the Journal of the American Public Medicine Association, tracks the foci of these chemicals in the environment and their medical effects and comes out with an explicit call for strengthening regulation and enforcement in order to minimize exposure of pregnant or fertile women, infants and young children to a variety of phthalates. Exposed to them today.

More exposure, more injury

Although, because of their widespread distribution, evading phthalates is an almost impossible task, the authors of the article review studies that have shown that those who are more exposed to phthalates are also those who are more affected by them.

For example, babies who learn about the world through touching the environment and putting many objects in their mouths are at high risk.

In addition, phthalates can also find their way into babies 'digestive systems through wall paints or PVC-type plastics (used, among other things, to make irrigation and sewer pipes), because infants' physiological systems are underdeveloped and have difficulty coping with foreign chemicals.

Babies who learn about the world through the tactile environment are at high risk.

Baby puts toy in mouth (Photo: ShutterStock)

The behavior of the parents of the infants may also be another source of exposure to phthalates in infants.

A 2017 American study showed that the use of grooming products in women - and especially women of Latin and African-American backgrounds - causes more exposure to phthalates than in men.

Further studies have shown that phthalates consumed by pregnant women are transmitted to the fetus through the placenta.

According to the researchers, the accumulated amount of knowledge about the effects of phthalates, especially in fetuses and infants at young ages, should constitute a wake-up call for decision makers.

The new article reviews over 30 previous studies, with the findings of each study on its own causing concern.

The overall picture that emerges is of a clear effect of phthalates on cognitive development in children.

Among other things, it can be seen that phthalates influence the behavior of children born to mothers after significant exposure.

For example, a Norwegian study from 2018 found that the higher the concentration of phthalates during the second trimester of pregnancy, the greater the chances of children being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but the mechanism that causes this relationship is still unclear.

Another study from Taiwan from 2015 found a similar association between exposure of pregnant mothers to a propensity for violence in their 8-year-old children.

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Other studies have linked phthalate concentration in pregnant women to impaired children's cognitive ability: A 2010 New York study showed memory impairment in seven-year-olds and a decline in perceptual reasoning skills.

Another study from New York from 2014 also showed a difference of 6.7-7.6 points in intelligence tests (IQ) between 7-year-old children whose mothers had the most significant exposure to phthalates compared to marginal exposure.

so what are we doing?

The article offers a cross-cutting approach to the problem of phthalate exposure through regulation that will prevent the presence of all substances from the phthalate family (common among them: DEHP, DiNP, BBzP, DBPs, DEP) in a range of products, thus preventing exposure of risk groups in the population to these substances.

The products that contain phthalates that target the writers are food products, cosmetics and cosmetics and construction products, with an emphasis on PVC plastic products.

Dr. Hagit Olnovsky, an expert in health and environmental risk management and one of the founders of the Israel Forum for Sustainable Nutrition, is not optimistic about the chances of success of such measures.

Of course, it is impossible to reach a situation that does not exist at all - the point is to reduce exposure through regulation and enforcement.

To prevent exposure through eating utensils, there are two standards;

For toddlers and adults.

But, regulation always lags behind scientific knowledge, at best by two years and in Israel usually by a decade - and in Israel there is no enforcement either.

The problem is not only in the standards but in the fact that manufacturers and importers have no incentive to switch to healthy products - as long as there is no enforcement. "

Replace the plastic plates with stainless steel.

Plate with breakfast for the child (Photo: ShutterStock)

Another problem that the authors of the article point to is that chemicals that the regulator removes from the front door find their way into other products from the back door. "Phthalates really do exist in other consumer products and not just in food utensils. In cosmetics, for example, every product is approved by the Ministry of Health and as long as there is no regulation on phthalates in cosmetics - even a product approved by the Ministry of Health can contain the ingredients." Because of this problem, phthalate inventions in a variety of products, the authors of the article adopt a regulatory approach to the entire common phthalate family to which we are exposed.

But according to Olnowski, the problem is even more rooted: "If you remove the phthalates from the product, then either you lose the function that the phthalates performed (such as softening and increasing flexibility in PVC), or they find another material that will be used for the same function. What material will it be? Unclear. What is clear. Unlike the phthalates, its health effects have not yet been scientifically studied, and I am mainly concerned that when the Ministry of Health comes to adjust the regulation on all products listed in the article in Israel, it will not look at the next step, whether the substances that replace phthalates are less dangerous. "They will check the substitutes. I'm not sure there is any point in regulation."

Galia Ruppin, leader of the "No Plastic in Food Afternoon" campaign, is also not optimistic: "Only after a letter before court proceedings did we send half of the kindergartens to transport food in stainless steel. In schools they still continue to lead in plastic utensils, even if they meet the standard. "Refers to children but to adults and does not refer to daily exposure and the fact that the food stands for 7-6 hours in these dishes every day. We seek to use non-plastic materials so you do not replace one chemical with another, you just do not use the same ingredients," says Ruppin. "Unfortunately, until parents turn tables the things don't move."

The article was prepared by Zavit - the news agency of the Israeli Association of Ecology and Environmental Sciences

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