“Widely used industrial compounds, called phthalates,” reports today’s Los Angeles Times, “are linked by researchers to changes in the reproductive organs of male infants” and reduced sperm count in developed countries.


   Why? Phthalates are “hormone-mimicking chemicals” that may “mimic estrogen or block testosterone.”

   Where are phthalates found? In plastics and beauty products. The “ubiquitous compounds [are] used as softeners in plastics and to maintain color and fragrance in beauty products such as nail polish and perfume.” I found the Environmental Working Group site which also tells us that the compounds are found in “shampoo, hair spray, nail polish, deodorant, and lotion.”


Thing is, in the U.S. we can’t find out which plastic and cosmetic products have phthalates since, unlike Europe, there are no restrictions. Phthalates are often not listed on product labels. I also found the corporate-sponsored Phthalate Information Center, which tells us, “Silly! There’s no problem!” More below:
Practically speakng, I think we all should avoid plastic as much as possible. For example, the cat shelter where I volunteer no longer uses plastic bowls for food or water. What else can we do?

[E]xperts, including the authors of the report published today in the online version of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, say that more research must be done to determine if the genital abnormalities in the boys lead to fertility or health problems and to prove that they are caused by phthalates.


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Mothers with the highest levels of chemicals in their urine late in their pregnancies had babies with a cluster of effects. The span between anus and penis, called anogenital distance, was comparatively short, and the infants had smaller penises and scrotums and more instances of incomplete descent of testicles.


Medical experts do not know whether babies with those physical characteristics will later develop reproductive problems. But in newborn animals, laboratory studies show that that combination of effects can lead to lower sperm counts, infertility, reduced testosterone and testicular abnormalities when they mature.


“In rats, it’s called the phthalate syndrome. What we found for the first time is evidence for this syndrome in humans,” said Dr. Shanna Swan, the study’s lead researcher and a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. “Animals [exposed to phthalates] definitely have decreased testosterone, so it is likely that this is happening in humans too.”


The study is the strongest evidence yet that man-made chemicals in the environment can feminize male babies in the womb.


Yet scientists say a larger study of babies should be conducted, and that they should be followed into adulthood to see whether they develop low sperm counts or any other reproductive problems.


“It’s such an important observation, you’d like to see this done again with more children and another population,” said Earl Gray, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reproductive toxicologist whose research has found that phthalates feminize male rodents.


“And we would like to see what the consequences are when they reach adulthood,” Gray said. “We don’t know the significance of this effect on the children later in life, but we do know the effect on rats.”


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Reproductive biologists say that a shorter anogenital distance is a female-like effect in animals, a telltale sign of decreased male hormones, and that it is likely that the human effects are similar, because hormones function the same in animals and people.


If a child has a shorter anogenital distance, “you are very likely going to see changes in every other aspect of masculinization as well,” said Frederick vom Saal, a reproductive toxicologist at the University of Missouri at Columbia.


Toxicologists have known since the early 1990s that some pesticides and industrial compounds, including phthalates, can mimic estrogen or block testosterone, the female and male sex hormones that control reproductive development. While they have found effects on the genitalia of laboratory animals and wildlife, they have been uncertain whether exposure to the fake hormones affects humans.


Some medical experts suspect that chemicals are responsible for reduced sperm counts that have been reported in much of the developed world, as well as increases in testicular cancer and cryptorchidism, or undescended testes. Three previous studies of men, two in the Boston area and one in India, linked phthalates to low sperm quality.


As might be expected, FDA says “there is no evidence phthalates are unsafe.”

Manufacturers are not required to notify consumers when phthalates are in their products, and their use is unregulated in the United States. Europe, however, has banned them in baby toys and cosmetics.


The California Senate is expected next week to hear a bill that would require cosmetics manufacturers to disclose to state health officials whether their product contained carcinogens or reproductive toxins. Another bill to ban phthalates and another compound called bisphenol A in children’s products is pending in the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee. …

Read more at today’s LAT. And check out the number of environmental groups and news articles warning of the dangers of these compounds.