EPA Takes Steps to Limit or Ban Phthalates
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it will take a series of actions on four chemicals that purportedly raise serious health or environmental concerns, including phthalates, which are plasticizers used in a wide array of consumer products. The agency will establish a “Chemicals of Concern” list under the Toxic Substances Control Act and intends to place on the list eight phthalates
and a number of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are used as flame retardants.
According to EPA, “[i]nclusion on the list publicly signals EPA’s strong concern about the risks that those chemicals pose and the agency’s intention to manage those risks. Once listed, chemical manufacturers can provide information to the agency if they want to demonstrate that their chemical does not pose an unreasonable risk.” The American Chemistry Council (ACC) reportedly responded by claiming that the
first target chemicals “seem to have been selected based on little more than their current high-profile nature” than on scientific data. The trade organization’s president and CEO has apparently charged the agency with a lack of transparency over its choice of substances and called for EPA to review all scientific studies, including those reaching a different conclusion than those previously considered.
In a statement, the ACC reportedly expressed concern about EPA’s new approach to phthalates, saying “While the action plan notes that phthalates are generally detected in biomonitoring data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), EPA fails to note that exposure to phthalates in the general public indicated by the CDC data are below—in most cases, well below—safety limits
established by the EPA and the European Union.”
EPA also announced that it is considering initiating a rulemaking to limit or prohibit long-chain perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), which are used in numerous industrial and consumer applications, including “as a processing aid in the manufacture of non-stick and stain-resistant surfaces.” EPA has provided more information and a fact sheet on the chemicals that it intends to address. See EPA Press Release, December 30, 2009; FoodNavigatorUSA.com, January 6, 2010.
Meanwhile, a study of Mexican women has reportedly found an association between the concentrations of specific phthalate metabolites in their urine and the incidence of breast cancer. Lizbeth López-Carrillo, et al., “Exposure to Phthalates and Breast Cancer Risk in Northern Mexico,” Environmental Health Perspectives Journal, December 9, 2009. The lead author has apparently cautioned that the research shows a correlation only and not necessarily a causative relationship. Still, monoethyl phthalate, a metabolite of diethyl phthalate, was found in higher concentrations in the cases (233 women) than in the controls (221 women). See FoodProductionDaily.com, December 21, 2009.
