Mothers exposed to phthalates during pregnancy may give birth to boys with incomplete genital development and impaired testicular function.
Shanna Swan, a professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, authored a study recently, testing 106 expecting mothers’ urine for pthalates. They also looked at their babies at 12 months old, and found a correlation between the levels of pthalates in the mother’s body and certain physical traits, such as undescended testicles, smaller penis, and immature genital development.
Phthalates are an endocrine disruptor found in many everyday items, from PVC shower curtains to furniture to personal care products. Endocrine disruptors are seen by the body as hormones, and interfere with normal development, starting in the womb. If a male baby is exposed to something that lowers testosterone through interference, proper reproductive system growth doesn’t happen.
However, the American Chemistry Council says this about phthalates:
In their long history of use in consumer products, there has never been any reliable evidence that the phthalates found in nail polish, or in any other cosmetics, have ever caused anyone any harm. Using estimates of the average amounts of DBP found in nail polish, if a person were to absorb all the DBP in almost five bottles of nail polish, or all the DEP in two quarts of perfume, every day, the resultant exposure would still be a level at which no effect is seen in laboratory animals.
I mean, really. What else are they going to say… “Our products are harmful.”? They lobby for the guys selling us this crap!
What can we do to reduce our phthalate exposure?
- The Environmental Working Group has a Parent’s Buying Guide for children’s products.
- Pollution in People has a guide to Less Toxic Product Choices.
- Read labels closely.
- Avoid all PVC products
- Avoid any product that lists “fragrance” as an ingredient.
Some common phthalates to look for and avoid:
- DEP (diethyl phthalate) – personal care products, like nail polish, perfumes, shampoos, deodorants and lotions)
- DBP (di-n-butyl phthalate) and DEP (diethyl phthalate) – in personal care products
- DEHP (di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate or Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate) – from PVC plastics
- BzBP (benzylbutyl phthalate) – vinyl flooring, car and personal care products.
- DMP (dimethyl phthalate) is used in insect repellent and some plastics (as well as rocket propellant).
More posts about Toxic Chemicals:
- Toxic Teens: Common Cosmetics Chemicals Alter Hormones, Disrupt Puberty
- New Study Finds High Levels of Toxic Fire Retardants in Children’s Blood
- 10 Ways To Avoid Toxic Plastic – BPA, Synthetic Estrogens and Your Child
- More Bad News: Your Child’s Car Seat May Be Toxic
Image: Public Domain Wikimedia Commons
The good news is that the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (actually signed by Pres. Bush) will ban phthalates in certain children’s products at levels exceeding 0.1%. The bad news is that the products don’t include beauty/personal care products or household products such as vinyl shower curtains or many other vinyl products. The easiest solution is to skip ALL vinyl products – from raincoats to teethers to fake leather – and household cleaners and personal care products containing synthetic fragrance (or parfum).
Or, although I don’t really like vinyl for other reasons, look for phthalate-free vinyl products this holiday season, such as Alex bath toys and Safari Ltd dinosaurs/wild or farm animals.
Jennifer
Smart Mamas Do It All Naturally
http://www.thesmartmama.com
Excellent comment by Jennifer. Geez, I learn so much every day, I just have to remember it all. Oh, my! Great post and very informative. I knew a child who was born like this. Scary and the doctors said it was just by chance. Hmmm?
If we can get the average American dick ( and ego) down to a size that forgoes early promiscuity, then the Americans girls ages 12 to 16, one in four of whom have contracted STD’s right now, might get a chance to grow up and properly mature before being destroyed/damaged/distracted/deflowered/impregnated – a healthy thing! If these girls were fed less hormones in their food and were allowed time to get proper educations before blooming so gloriously, they would be demanding better universal health care and good solid economy building, “zero running cost, zero upkeep” homes for the survival of their off-spring instead of the foolishly immature barbie girl McMansions that have broken the back of our economy! Africa is a country of statistically larger dicks than any other place on earth and our society is headed in that same direction all too fast! Our commercialized perverted sexual beliefs are a malignancy in a normally conservative and caring society. If we don’t control the blatant commercial sexploitation of the American youth, girls as sex objects, boys as soldier/paychecks with penuses, soon, we will have to pay with a bleak uneducated worn out workforce of over-sexed, undereducated goons that want only one thing – immediate gratification.