With phthalates being measured at higher levels in human biomarkers and being used increasingly in food containers and other products, has anyone examined the products that expose humans the most/least? Presumably those with the least amount of polyvinyl chloride, but is it so? Is there any relationship to the plastic recycle numbers?
Plasticised PVc is without doubt the most likely plastic material with high phthalate content. The exposure especially to DEHP from food consumption alone can be in the range of the TDI. And there are a number of other sources which contribute to the overall human exposure. Therefore there is indeed a problem, but we do not observe phthalates increasingly in food containers and other products as You suggest.
Direct contact between PVC and food is not really the predominant scenario for phthalates contamination. It seems that the ubiquitous presence of the phthalates and their lipophilic character are more important.
There is no direct relationship to the overall plastic recycle numbers, things are more complex. A contamination with phthalates is only likely for some kinds of plastics, and these are normally not used as food contact materials. Again, the high production numbers and the resulting ubiquitous presence of the phthalates are more important.
Phthalates are almost exlusively used as plasticizers in polyvinylchloride (PVC). We tested many products including toys for children and childern care products. Even though there is several years ban to use phthalates in those products in EU we found them still e.g. in "loom bands charms" in 2014 see text by myself and Jindrich Petrlik
Research Loom Band Charms and Scoubidou Strings Contain Phthalates an...
The situation can be even more critical in countries outside of EU. In some toys bought at market in Belarus our Toxics and Waste Programme found examples when phthalates were more than half of content in PVC plastic as such (more than 50%). SeeTechnical Report Toxic Substances in Toys, Products for Children and Care of ...
Phthalates up to 32% in PVC were measured in products in most recent study from Saudi ArabiaArticle Plastic toys and child care articles as a source of children...
by Mohammed D. Y. Oteef . General environment contamination comes rather from use of phthalates in flooring (PVC) and wall papers (again very often PVC). Exposure to dust containing phthalates is also important exposure route, I think. See for example this linkArticle PVC–as flooring material–and its association with incident a...
by Malin Knutz , Linda Hägerhed , Barbara Kolarik et al. from 2010
There is a study from 2004 about phthalates in medical devices made of soft PVC, in addition to what Lenka Petrlikova suggested. That study concluded that: "... the reproductive toxicant DEHP is present in large quantities, reaching up to 41% by weight of the PVC medical devices." It has most likely changed since that time but one can expect that DEHP was replaced by other softeners, potentially including other phthalates. Here is a link to that study by Mark Rossi, Karolina Brabcova et al.: Technical Report Preventing Harm from Phthalates, Avoiding PVC in Hospitals
New phthalates are used to substitute older ones although it is not sure whether they are safe or not. Such a regretable substitution does not solve the problem but brings more challenges to the regulation process. The ideal solution is to ban phthalates as a group in all consumer products with a few exemption in essential uses similarly as is the case of DEHP, DBP and other well-studied and already restricted ones.
Some examples of products containing high levels of phthalates are here. See: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347270485_Soft_plastic_harsh_truth_-_Phthalates _in_articles_on_the_Serbian_market and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348603653_Phthalates_in_Childrens_Environment _-_Case_Studies_2007_-_2016
There is a new study looking at levels of phthalates in products available on the Serbian market. See: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347270485_Soft_plastic_harsh_truth_-_Phthalates_in_articles_on_the_Serbian_market and its version in Serbian language https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347333336_Mekana_plastika_gruba_istina_-_Ispitivanje_sadrzaja_ftalata_u_predmetima_sa_srpskog_trzista_Soft_plastic_harsh_truth_-_Phthalates_in_articles_on_the_Serbian_market by Valentina Mart, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jindrich_Petrlik2 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jasminka_Randjelovic and others.
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