Phthalates: Take Two and Call Me in the Morning
November 12, 2008 by Alicia
Filed under Phthalates
Environmental Health News revealed yet another little known source of phthalates. We’re aware of phthalates in our baby’s teethers and bibs, in our shampoo, makeup and air freshener. Now we’re learning that prescription medications can deliver high doses of phthalates as well.
Russ Hauser, a Harvard professor of environmental epidemiology, called pharmaceuticals “an unrecognized source of potential high exposure.” A thin layer of a phthalate-containing polymer, designed to slow the release of medication, coats many timed-release drugs. Phthalates are found in virtually every human body. But for people taking medications coated with the compounds, their exposure exceeds other, well-known sources, such as plastics, perfumes and lotions, by ten to 1,000-fold, Hauser said.
While the law passed by Congress bans phthalates in children’s products, it doesn’t prohibit their use in prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.
New data showing high levels of phthalates in people taking some medications “raise concern about potential human health risks,” Hauser and his colleagues reported in a study published in October in Environmental Health Perspectives online. The scientists warned “of the potential for high delivered doses of phthalates to vulnerable segments of the population, particularly pregnant women or young children.”
