phthalates

Phthalates are endocrine-disrupting chemicals frequently used as softeners in PVC and other plastics and to stabilize fragrance chemicals in bath and beauty products. Many phthalates have been banned in the European Union for years, and six common industrial phthalates were banned by the U.S. for use in children's products in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2009.

Phthalates are also present in paints and coatings for pill capsules. Some phthalates have been identified as carcinogens, although the variety of chemicals falling under this term ranges significantly in terms of its anticipated risk of harm.

Tests by the Centers for Disease Control indicate that the vast majority of Americans have phthalates in their system at any given time, as evidenced by their presence in urine.

Some blogs and consumer websites track the presence of the chemical in children's products for parents or other consumers who wish to avoid them.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “phthalates”

• Truly Healthy Hygiene

  
  Healthy Lifestyle — Authority: 110
  An increasing number of scientists, those in the environmental movement, and everyday people are questioning the safety of the chemical products that we ingest and put on our bodies daily. The question is not whether toxic substances can be found in consumer products.  They are there.  They are supposed to be ...
  1 day ago

• An Ode to Zoya Nail Polishes

  
  The Green Beauty Guide — Authority: 100
  It perhaps takes two years after giving birth for a new mom to start feeling like a woman again. At least that’s how long it took me. On Marie’s second birthday I gave myself a mani/pedi; a week later, I’ve got a Victoria Beckham’s short bob and super-dark brown Aveda hair color that I have been maintaining ...
  2 days ago

• Toy Safety Testing Continues To Take A Holiday

  
  Understanding Government — Authority: 435
  Time to get nervous, parents! The Washington Post’s Lyndsey Layton looks at a report released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group on toy safety with the holiday shopping season coming up. PIRG sent fifteen toy products to an independent testing facility and four were found to have excessive levels of ...
  4 days ago

• ADHD symptoms linked to plastics chemicals – Phthalates

  
  Eideard — Authority: 445
  Statistical link between ADHD and phthalates found in ordinary plastics.
  4 days ago

• Turn that thing off! Loud toys on group’s hit list

  
  Healthy Living — Authority: 490
  Toys that may cause hearing damage among children after long periods of exposure were highlighted in the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s 24th annual “Trouble in Toyland” report issued Tuesday. Despite stepped-up enforcement by the enhanced Consumer Product Safety Commission, USPIRG says that plenty of ...
  5 days ago

• Another Phthalate Study Linking ADHD

  
  Tree Hugging Family — Authority: 420
  Phthalates may be included in perfume, vinyl floors, furniture, nail polish, personal care items, medical equipment, car interiors, adhesives, paint and many things made of PVC . They’ve been in use around 50 years to make plastics softer and more flexible. Until recently, the chemical group was also used in ...
  6 days ago

• Terrific Green Tool: Precautionary List From Perkins+Will

  
  TreeHugger — Authority: 700
  Architects usually keep their proprietary research locked up and closely held. Perkins + Will has done the opposite and made it a public service. Launched at Greenbuild the Precautionary List is a compilation of available data on chemicals and materials that may well become "a catalyst for marketplace change". Jetson ...
  6 days ago

• Toxins in plastics make boys play like girls

  
  Asylum.co.uk — Authority: 571
  Filed under: Happy Hour Hero (Our happy fact to amaze your pub-going pals with.) Boys exposed to certain plastics while in the womb are less likely to play with traditional male toys. Phthalates, chemicals used to soften many household plastics, have in recent years become a ... Read more   Permalink  |  ...
  6 days ago

• Phthalates from plastics linked to ADHD in children

  
  iHealthBulletin News — Authority: 134
  Could exposure to phthalates from plastics be contributing to the incidence of ADHD in children? Phthalates are important components of many consumer products, including toys, cleaning materials, plastics, and personal care items. Studies to date on phthalates have been inconsistent, with some linking exposure to ...
  1 week ago

• Prenatal phthalate exposure de-masculinizes boys’ play?

  
  iHealthBulletin News — Authority: 134
  URMC.Rochester.edu - A study of 145 preschool children reports, for the first time, that when the concentrations of two common phthalates in mothers’ prenatal urine are elevated their sons are less likely to play with male-typical toys and games, such as trucks and play fighting.The study by the University of ...
  1 week ago

• Toxins in Plastics Make Boys Play Like Girls

  
  Asylum — Authority: 723
  Filed under: Sex , Health , Happy Hour Hero , Weird Science Our happy fact to amaze your drinking buddies with. Boys exposed to certain plastics while in the womb are less likely to play with traditional male toys. Phthalates, chemicals used to soften many household plastics, have in recent years become ... ...
  1 week ago

• Common plastic chemical ‘contributes to ADHD in kids’

  
  Thaindian News — Authority: 729
  Washington, Nov 20 (ANI): A plastic chemical found in consumer products, such as toys, cleaning materials, plastics, and personal care items appears to contribute to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in kids, say researchers.Korean scientists have found a positive association between plastic chemical ...
  1 week ago

• There’s a “great” future in plastics

  
  Doug's Dynamic Drivel — Authority: 140
  The year was 1967 and, aside from a little skirmish in South East Asia, the world looked to be offering everyone a bright future as illustrated in this quote from the movie The Graduate Yes it was a great thing to get into at that time. Now we are beginning to reap the cost of that can-do enthusiasm to go out there ...
  1 week ago

• Phthalates: Chemicals in Plastics Blamed for Serious Developmental Damage in Children

  
  Attorney At Law — Authority: 440
  Toxic chemicals called phthalates used to make many plastic products flexible and durable are suspected of causing birth defects, hormone disruption, and other devastating injuries in children who are exposed to toys and other products containing the chemicals.As a result of health problems associated with childhood ...
  1 week ago

• BPA overload

  
  Green Chemicals — Authority: 130
  My colleague Simon Robinson noted the increasing hits on ICBs bisphenol-A (BPA) chemical profile online, which was published last year in October. Last week, it generated over 1300 hits. Barbara Ortner, another colleague and author of the Chemicals Confidential blog , dubbed BPA as the current most hated chemical ...
  1 week ago

• Study: Boys Engage in “Less Masculine Play” After Prenatal Chemical Exposure

  
  80beats — Authority: 631
  It’s been a bad month for chemicals and masculinity. Last week 80beats covered the discomforting link found between the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), which is found in any number of consumer products, and erectile dysfunction. Now the villains are phthalates, chemicals used to make plastics softer and more flexible. ...
  1 week ago

• Two-year-olds at risk from ‘gender-bending’ chemicals

  
  Survival News Network — Authority: 143
  Two-year-old children are being exposed to dangerous levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals in domestic products such as rubber clogs and sun creams, according to an EU investigation being studied by the government.The 327-page report says that while risks from “anti-androgen” and “oestrogen-like” substances ...
  1 week ago

• Phthalates Affect Way Young Boys Play

  
  Health Fitness & Beauty - health-fitness.marc8.com — Authority: 160
  Mothers exposed to high levels of chemicals known as phthalates during pregnancy may have boys who are less likely to play with trucks and other male-typical toys or to play fight, according to a new study.
  1 week ago

• Yet Another Reason to Steer Clear of Plastics

  
  LilSugar — Authority: 619
  The last thing mommy wants to do is add another worry to her already fret-worthy list, but this one may be worth noting. We all know that plastics can contain BPA and other harmful toxins, but we dont always know why they are hazardous. Fortunately, scientists are doing the dirty work for us and informing us of ...
  1 week ago

• Chemicals used in plastics may feminize boys

  
  Baby Chums — Authority: 493
  Chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics may disrupt hormones in baby boys causing genital defects or feminization says new research. A study out of the University of Rochester Medical Center has found that young boys that are exposed to chemicals called phthalates in utero have a lower likelihood of typical ...
  1 week ago

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