Thaindian News

New York, May 24 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Phthalates are a group of chemicals used in the production of soft and flexible plastics. Scientists say that there are traces of phthalates in almost all humankind. This has led to the investigation as to whether the phthalates are safe for the body.

The Environmental Protection Agency or EPA says that the phthalates might disrupt hormone activity. Preliminary studies say phthalates may cause slow and steady demasculinizing of men. This has made the Environmental Protection Agency to put the phthalates on the list of chemicals that the EPA says ‘may present a risk’ to human health or the environment.

Congress last year banned some types of phthalates in children toys. Dr. Shanna Swan did the research that led to the ban of certain phthalates. Dr. Swan told ‘60 minutes’ that she found out during the research that the higher the level of phthalates found in the mother, the greater the problems of development of the sex organ in their male children.

A pediatric urologist at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, Dr. Howard Snyder said says Dr. Swan’s findings is in line with his observation of newborn babies. “Thirty, 40 years ago, the best data we had then was that hypospadias occurred in about one in every 300 live male births. It’s up to now about one in 100. So there’s been a threefold increase,” Snyder said.