By now, we’ve all heard about the risks of PFAS, neurotoxic compounds that have aptly been nicknamed “forever chemicals” due to their pervasiveness in the environment. But scientists are now also encouraging us to be mindful of “everywhere chemicals,” AKA phthalates.
What Are ‘Everywhere Chemicals’?
These chemicals are typically used to make plastics soft and pliable. They’ve been linked to a variety of serious health conditions including premature birth, infertility, behavioral problems like ADHD, and heart disease.
The risks of phthalates on our reproductive systems isn’t news, reports The Washington Post. Scientists working for the EPA first identified a link between phthalates and testicular malformation in the ‘80s by studying mouse models. And since then, the evidence of the health risks of phthalates has continued to stack up.
In September, a study from the University of Miami linked phthalate exposure to hormone disruption that directly led to breast cancer1, and an April study led by New York University attributed 350,000 deaths worldwide to heart disease stemming from phthalate exposure2. A March 2025 study in Frontiers also found a link between phthalate exposure and asthma3.
The Fatal Risk of Prenatal Phthalate Exposure
But perhaps most worrisome has been the research on the devastating repercussions of fetal exposure to phthalates. First, research from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health identified a link between prenatal exposure to phthalates and clinical diagnosis of ADHD4. Then in February 2024, a study in the Lancet showed that prenatal phthalate exposure was the direct cause of over 50,000 pre-term births in the U.S. in 2018 alone5.
The Lack of Regulation Around Phthalates
Despite this wealth of evidence, the EPA, FDA, and other regulators have not responded to this clear cause-and-effect with better regulation. The use of phthalates was only limited in children’s toys in 2009, and much of the reduction of phthalates in our food system has been voluntary rather than enforced.
What Are Phthalates Currently Used For?
Today, phthalates are still used in medical equipment, cosmetics, and cheap plastic goods. They’re also used in some factories, leading to traces of phthalates in ultra-processed foods (as if we didn’t have enough reason not to stop including UPFs in our diet). A 2019 study in Environment International found that higher consumption of UPFs like hamburgers, French fries, and ice cream pops was associated with higher concentration of phthalates6.
“Phthalates can migrate out of whatever they’re in,” says Stephanie Engel, a professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and specialist in the health ramifications of phthalates in food and other products. “From a container of lotion or your shampoo or cosmetics, it can absorb into your skin. You can ingest it from water bottles. Or it could be in food with plastic wrap around it. All routes lead to phthalate exposure.”
Still, it’s not all bad news. New research from Mercer is currently seeking to identify new ways of testing products for the presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals like phthalates, with hopes of removing these chemicals from water supplies7.
Sources:
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651325012199?via%3Dihub=&itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template#bbib69
- https://nyulangone.org/news/heart-disease-deaths-worldwide-linked-chemical-widely-used-plastics
- https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1566965/full
- https://www.unc.edu/discover/brain-scans-show-effects-of-everywhere-chemicals/
- https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00270-X/fulltext
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31398592/
- https://den.mercer.edu/mercer-researchers-study-ways-to-detect-phthalates-in-everyday-products/
