Diisononyl Phthalate (DINP) is used in numerous household products to make them flexible or pliant. Numerous international scientific panels have concluded that the commercial use of DINP does not pose any risk to human health. Despite these conclusions, DINP was added to California s ever-growing Proposition 65 list of known carcinogens late last year. This past April, ExxonMobil joined a chorus of science-based groups who challenged this decision, saying that the rodent studies upon which this decision was based were essentially meaningless in suggesting a cancer link.
And most recently, the American Chemistry Council filed a lawsuit challenging this decision, saying that the state s listing of DINP as known to cause cancer is unwarranted and defies the state of the science which demonstrates that DINP does not cause cancer in humans. This lawsuit comes after the ACC provided documentation of scientific data showing that DINP does not cause cancer in humans and pointing out that the California Environmental Protection Agency s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment failed to take into account the fact that rodent studies cannot be used to infer carcinogenicity in humans.
ACSH s Elizabeth Whelan comments: We at ACSH have long been talking about the safety of phthalates. In fact, we produced a Blue Ribbon Panel Report entitled A Scientific Evaluation of Health Effects of Two Plasticizers Used in Medical Devices and Toys, which looked at the effects of two phthalate plasticizers, one of which was DINP. The evaluation, led by former surgeon general C. Everett Koop and researched and written by a panel of 17 world-renowned experts in various relevant fields of academia, found that these two phthalates are completely safe as used in consumer products. Furthermore, we have long been saying that mice are not little men and rodent studies cannot be used as accurate predictors of biological effects in humans. We are very much in agreement with the American Chemistry Council that DINP should be removed from California s Proposition 65 list.
