In 1999, ACSH assembled a Blue Ribbon Panel of physicians and scientists, chaired by former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. The panel, after a thorough review of the literature, gave two members of the family of chemicals known as phthalates a clean bill of health. Phthalates (pronounced thal-ates) are used to soften plastics, which would otherwise be hard and brittle.
It s refreshing to learn, then, that despite ongoing activist hype, the Australian government s National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme has also found no scientific evidence to suggest that use of the phthalate DINP in toys and childcare products poses any health risk even at the highest (reasonable worst-case) exposure scenarios considered. (DINP was one of the phthalates we evaluated in 1999.) This verdict echoes those of every other scientific body that has evaluated these chemicals.
Based on these results, and those of numerous other global health agencies, it s difficult to understand why this chemical is currently banned from use in toys for children 12 and younger, or child-care articles for children three and under, in the U.S. The E.U. has already proscribed the use of six different phthalates, while Argentina, Japan, Israel, and Mexico have since followed suit.
As ACSH has long pointed out, phthalates do not pose any risk to public health. It seems evident that fear of these chemicals must be based only on political and activist propaganda, says ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross, since science has repeatedly demonstrated that phthalates are not only benign, but can be life-saving, as they are used to soften certain plastics, such as essential medical tubes used in hospitals. That s why we re quite pleased to discover that the Australian government is sticking to the science, not activist hype.
