Review of phthalates used in industry, occurrence, human exposure and potential impact on health

Abstract EN

Phthalates, a group of synthetic chemicals representing a broad chemical family, have been manufactured in millions of tons and are widely used in industrial and consumer products.

Phthalates migration out of these products has posed a serious contamination problem both for the eco-system and for humans using the products.

Toxicity data from recent studies on laboratory animals have revealed the extent of damage phthalates can cause to the animals bio-system.

Many of these studies, however, concluded that there is correlation of some of these effects in humans.

It is this correlation that has raised serious health concerns in Developed Countries.

Noting that a wide range of these very same consumer and industrial products are being marketed on a large scale in the GCC and other ME countries ; this paper aims at enhancing equal health concerns in these countries.

It proposes to do so through : 1.

Providing information on the occurrence of phthalates in industrial products.

2.

Summarizing the current knowledge about human exposure.

3.

Presenting the potential health impact of exposure to an actual mixture of these chemicals.