Phthalate contamination

Phthalates are high-production volume chemicals used frequently as plasticizers in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other plastics. 

Exposure to phthalates can impair brain development, increasing children’s risk of learning, attention and behavioural disorders. The mechanisms behind phthalates’ harms are varied, but the chemicals are known to disrupt organization and function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, the system responsible for the management of stress and involved in the regulation of immune function and metabolic homeostasis.

Diet continues to be a significant route of exposure to phthalates, since the chemicals can leach into food not only from food packaging commonly used by fast food and take-out restaurants but also from plastic equipment used in food production. Another common route of exposure is from building supplies, including vinyl flooring and wall coverings, which allow phthalates to migrate into household dust and indoor air. They are also widely used in personal care products and cosmetics, including nail polish, fragrance, lotion and hair products.

A plasticizer is a general term for a whole range of chemicals added to materials, typically plastic and rubber, to make them softer and more pliable. They’re found in countless everyday items like plastic shower curtains, shrink-wrap, PVC raincoats or flexible tubing and wire insulation for homes. Plasticizers, sometimes called phthalates, are also found in cosmetics, like nail polishes, lotions and shampoos. Here, they act as stabilizers, preserving and maintaining consistency. They can also help products like lotions resist water or last longer.

An estimated 8.4 million metric tons of plasticizers, including phthalates, are used worldwide each year, with phthalate production amounting to about 4.9 million metric tons annually.

The use of certain plasticizers has been banned or severely restricted in places such as the EU, US, Canada and Japan due to their potentially harmful effects on human health or the environment. But they remain widely used elsewhere. 

Although restrictions are especially enforced when it comes to children’s toys, for example, in recent years, German researchers have reported unusually high levels of a strictly regulated plasticizer in young kids.  A breakdown product of the plasticizer mono-n-hexyl phthalate (MnHexP) was detected in 92% of urine samples from 259 children and adolescents taken in spring and summer 2025 across Germany. 

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health found that 90% of those tested from 2016 to 2017 had eight different plasticizers in their urine.

In the U.S., regulation of the chemicals remains lax and the FDA approves the use of 28 phthalates for use as additive in food contact products, such as cellophane, paper and paperboard, coating agents and binders.