‘Everywhere Chemicals’: What To Know To Protect Your Health

Without knowing it, you may be rubbing the same dangerous chemicals into your scalp and skin every day that caused grotesque malformations in the testicles of laboratory rats in a government trial that awakened scientists to their danger four decades ago.

It’s even more likely you’re eating and drinking these “everywhere chemicals,” as phthalates are commonly called.

Phthalates (pronounced “THAL-ates”) are ubiquitous in cosmetics, shampoos and other personal care items, as well as plastic food packaging and a wide variety of ultraprocessed foods. A class of chemicals used to make plastic softer and more pliable, phthalates are so widely used that they have been detected in the urine of 95 percent of people tested.

In the early 1980s, laboratory rats were fed a regular ration of corn oil laced with phthalates in the Environmental Protection Agency study on how toxic substances might risk the human reproductive system.

“It was in enough animals, so we knew it wasn’t random malformations,” Earl Gray, 80, one of the principal investigators of the study on how toxic substances affect the reproductive system, told The Washington Post. Gray is now retired after nearly 50 years with the EPA.

Researchers have since backed those findings in a large body of science, determining that despite how efficiently the body processes and eliminates phthalate molecules, chronic exposure negatively affects the endocrine system and organs, leading to long-term problems with pregnancy success, child growth, development, and the reproductive health of children and adolescents.

Below are some things to know about phthalates.

Ultraprocessed Foods Fail Test

Phthalates are found in high levels in ultraprocessed foods. Of 85 brand-name products tested in a 2024 Consumer Reports study, only one — Polar Seltzer Raspberry — tested negative for phthalates.

Researchers analyzed two to three samples each of beverages, canned beans, condiments, dairy, fast food, grains, infant food, meat and poultry, packaged fruits and vegetables, prepared meals, and seafood.

Toxicity levels varied widely in the items studied by Consumer Reports even among particular types of food or brands, and even products that weren’t packaged in plastic, such as the canned beans, contained phthalates.

Also, Consumer Reports warned, don’t assume that “certified organic” foods are automatically safer. That’s a USDA designation for foods produced according to strict guidelines on soil quality, animal welfare, pest control, and additives, including a prohibition on most synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and antibiotics.

Some of the highest levels of phthalates in the foods studied by Consumer Reports were found in Annie’s Organic Cheesy Stuffed Ravioli.

The FDA has authorized the use of nine phthalates in food packaging and processing materials. The chemicals can leech from the packaging into food and beverages, but they’re also used in food processing equipment such as gloves and factory conveyor belts. Or, the chemicals may enter food via contaminated soil and water.

The Smell Of Phthalates

Historically, cosmetic products have incorporated several primary phthalates:

• Dibutylphthalate (DBP): Functions as a plasticizer, often in nail polishes, to enhance flexibility and prevent cracking (by reducing brittleness).
• Dimethylphthalate (DMP): Used in hair sprays, mousses and gels to help maintain a flexible film on the hair, thereby avoiding stiffness.
• Diethylphthalate (DEP): Serves as both a solvent and a fixative in fragrances.

Of the three, DEP appears to be the only phthalate still commonly used in cosmetics, according to a 2010 FDA study.

The FDA requires disclosure on the label of cosmetic ingredients, including phthalates. But that doesn’t give consumers a full picture. Ingredients may include “fragrance” and “flavor,” but not the specific ingredients, which may well include phthalates.

To avoid phthalates, choose cosmetics whose ingredients do not include “fragrance” or “flavor,” the FDA advises.

Many personal-care products that are a part of a person’s daily routine — soaps, body washes, shampoos, lotions and deodorant, for example — are likely to contain phthalates.

The culprit is the fragrance. To avoid them, use fragrance-free options that may also be labeled “phthalate-free.”

For more guidance, the Environmental Working Group maintains a database of safe personal care products.

Food storage containers, especially if they’re microwaved, may leach phthalates. Other things to avoid include anything vinyl, including toys; craft paints containing phthalates as a solvent; and air fresheners.

A $66.7 Billion Annual Problem

A 2024 study led by New York University estimated the cost of health effects from phthalates exposure, including diabetes and infertility, at about $66.7 billion a year. For comparison, cancer costs about $209 billion a year, according to a National Cancer Institute estimate.

The $66.7 billion cost of everywhere chemicals about three times the economic impact of health problems associated with more widely known “forever chemicals,” The Washington Post reported.

These synthetic per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, collectively known as PFAS, are found in a wide variety of products ranging from nonstick cookware to carpets to firefighting foam. It is estimated about half of U.S. water supplies are contaminated with these forever chemicals, so called because they don’t break down in the human body or environment.

What’s The FDA Doing?

Nearly a decade ago, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and other nonprofit organizations sued the FDA for not acting on a pair of petitions to ban the entire class of 28 phthalates that have been linked to various health issues

“Phthalates are hormone disruptors — chemicals that can turn on, turn off, or change the signals sent by hormones like estrogen, testosterone, thyroid hormone, and insulin — linked to a variety of health harms, including impairment of male fetal genital development, poorer reproductive success, and reduced IQ,” CSPI said “Babies and young children, as well as Black, Latino, and low-wealth individuals, face heightened risks of serious health problems from phthalate exposure compared to the general population.”

In 2022, the FDA reopened the comment period on regulation of phthalates, but ultimately denied petitions to ban all phthalates. The agency cited inconclusive scientific data, especially criticizing an attempt to lump 28 chemicals into a single class for assessment.

The agency said plaintiffs failed to show the nine phthalates that are currently allowed are harmful to health at current exposure levels; however, authorization was removed for phthalates that have been abandoned by the industry.

Banning or severely limiting the use of phthalates should have been a regulatory priority decades ago, critics say.

“If I was in charge, would I have removed it from products? Yes,” Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told The Washington Post. “The only thing you can do is ban it.”

Phthalates Limited In Children's Toys

In 2009, federal regulators limited the use of phthalates in children’s toys, eventually banning eight compounds.

The EPA is currently studying several other high-priority phthalates that pose a risk, especially for works, and engaging in public comment periods. Evaluations are set to conclude by December 2026, and reform could be years in the future.

“Even the chemical Gray served to rats — dibutyl phthalate — is still on the market for use in adhesives and paints,” The Washington Post’s Jake Spring wrote in his report.

Gray, whose research is used by the EPA and governments worldwide in phthalates assessments, questions why it has taken the EPA so long to look deeper at the class of chemicals.

“Why it took so long?” Gray asked. “I don’t know.”

Regulation appears to be working. Studies show declining levels of phthalate exposure in Americans, with a Harvard study finding DEHP markers in the urine of 1,900 Boston residents fell by at least 11.9 percent from 2000 to 2017, though substitute levels increased.

“There were decades where the exposures were really high,” Gray said, telling Spring that he’d given his own children rubber duckies that were 40 percent phthalates to his children to play with in the bath.

“You don’t know what the consequences of those exposures were,” he told The Post reporter.

Also On Patch

• Ultraprocessed Foods: What Are They And Are They Bad For You?
• 12 Ways To Get PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Out Of Your Life
• These AI Toys Raise Safety Concerns, New Report Says