Health

*What Are Phthalates?* EWG, 7.23. Phthalates are used in many consumer and personal products: vinyl, paint, food packaging, cosmetics, fragrance, air fresheners, kitchen items, toys, lawn furniture, garden hoses and more.
-----
Phthalates are a class of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. These chemicals are associated with health harms, including increased risk of cancer, asthma and allergies, and learning attention and behavioral difficulties in children. They are found in many consumer products, including paint, plastics, fragrance and personal care products, such as nail polish.

Introduction. As you start your day, phthalates have joined your morning rituals. Your first dose happens the moment you pull back your plastic shower curtain and then lather up with shampoo and soap. You’re exposed to these endocrine disruptors again in the fresh scents of your deodorant and body lotion. These chemicals lurk in seemingly harmless items like your plastic key ring and air freshener.

Phthalates have an uncanny ability to show up in unexpected places, making their presence felt in plastic, vinyl, personal care products, children's toys, and often hide in “fragrance.” They’ve been around since the 1930s and are now widely used. More than three in four adults have detectable levels of these chemicals in their urine. Phthalates are endocrine disruptors, a class of potent chemicals that interfere with our hormone systems.

Effect on our health: The endocrine system is a network of hormones, hormone-producing glands and hormone receptors.

It’s critical to many of the core functions of the body, including growth and development, metabolism, reproduction, sleep, stress and the immune response. Phthalates disrupt the hormone system by increasing the production of some hormones, decreasing the production of others and interfering with hormone signaling which can cause health problems. Some of the health harms associated with phthalates are changes to fertility, early puberty and risk of low birth weight, obesity, diabetes, impacts to the immune system, cardiovascular and respiratory problems, some cancers and neurological and behavioral problems... Read More,
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/07/what-are-phthalates

- CONSUMER GUIDES - EWG
Want to know what's in your sunscreen? Curious about the toxic chemicals in your tap water? EWG’s consumer guides help you find the answers you need. FEATURED...
https://www.ewg.org/consumer-guides