The use of synthetic chemicals called phthalates in consumer products, including cosmetics and food containers, has been linked to thousands of premature deaths a year, per a new study from NYU.
The study was conducted by researchers at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, reported Insider. The research team analyzed healthcare data for over 5000 adults between ages 55 and 64. They determined adults with high amounts of phthalates in their urine are more likely to die from heart disease prematurely.
“Our findings reveal that increased phthalate exposure is linked to early death, particularly due to heart disease,” study lead author Leonardo Trasande said in a press release from NYU Langone. “Until now, we have understood that the chemicals connect to heart disease, and heart disease, in turn, is a leading cause of death, but we had not yet tied the chemicals themselves to death.”
Phthalates are synthetic chemicals commonly used to make plastics more durable, and fragrances in cosmetics last longer. They are nicknamed “everywhere chemicals” because they are used so widely, according to CNN. Scientists determined phthalates interfere with hormone production in humans decades ago and can be “linked with developmental, reproductive, brain, immune, and other problems,” the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences stated.
Previous reports have linked the ingestion of phthalates to several conditions, including cancer, asthma, childhood obesity and cardiovascular illness.
The NYU study’s authors believe phthalates contribute to 91,000 to 107,000 deaths a year in the United States. The use of these chemicals costs 40 billion to $47 billion in lost economic productivity every year.
“These chemicals have a rap sheet,” said Trasande. “And the fact of the matter is that when you look at the entire body of evidence, it provides a haunting pattern of concern.”
The American Chemistry Council, an organization representing the chemical, plastics and chlorine industries, is skeptical of the study. Eileen Conneely, senior director of chemical products and technology at the ACC, questioned the accuracy of the findings in a statement to CNN.
“Much of the content within Trasande et al.’s latest study is demonstrably inaccurate,” Conneely wrote.
“Studies such as these fail to consider all phthalates individually and consistently ignore or downplay the existence of science-based, authoritative conclusions regarding the safety of high molecular weight phthalates,” the statement continued.
Ironically, Black and Latina cosmetologists have higher levels of exposure to the chemical, according to a July study by Environmental Health News.
One kind of phthalate risk was ten times higher with Black and Latina hairstylists than Black women and Latinas who worked in offices.
“It’s really concerning because a lot of hairdressers are reproductive-age women,” Dr. Susan Schantz, a neurotoxicologist and professor emerita at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told EHN. “And there’s lots of research out there to suggest that there are risks from prenatal exposure to phthalates.”
If you want to lessen your exposure to phthalates, Trasande suggested purchasing unscented products and using food containers made of glass, ceramic, wood or stainless steel.
