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Phthalates: How Common Plasticizers Get in Your Water
Phthalates: How Common Plasticizers Get in Your Water

What are phthalates and are they dangerous?

Kate avatar
Written by Kate
Updated over 2 years ago

What Are Phthalates?

A group of chemicals often called “plasticizers,” phthalates are used to make plastics more flexible and less prone to breaking. They may also be used as solvents for other materials, as well as are used in many fragrances and perfumes.

As they have many practical applications, phthalates are produced in huge volumes. In fact, as of 2006, over 470 million pounds of phthalates were produced per year.

Phthalates are frequently found in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics, which are used to make things such as water piping, garden hoses, medical tubing, packaging film, plastic food wrap, and even children’s toys. Phthalates are also ubiquitously found in adhesives, detergents, automotive plastics, personal-care products (soap, shampoo, nail polish, etc) and cosmetics.

In other words, phthalates are all around us. Therefore, due to leaching, weathering and disintegration, they can (and do) make it into many drinking water supplies

Phthalates and Drinking Water:

Whether from industrial production / waste contamination or from pesticides sprayed on fruits and veggies, there are numerous ways phthalates can end up in your water.

As hard as they are to spell, phthalates can also be hard to detect without testing your water in a laboratory. Colorless, odorless and often in small concentrations, phthalates have no at-home or DIY testing options. To analyze for phthalates it must be done in a lab.

Are Phthalates Harmful to Your Health?

There are numerous routes of exposure, some of the most common ways include:

  1. Eating and drinking foods that have been in contact with products containing phthalates

  2. Breathing in air that contains phthalate vapor/dust with phthalate particles

Phthalates are readily absorbed into the human body (whether it be via ingestion or inhalation) and are quickly converted to their respective metabolites. They tend to pass out of the body quickly in urine and feces. However, they can can a so interact with each other and increase the exposure effect.

The health effects of phthalate exposure are not fully known. While they are still being researched and studied, it is known that some phthalates like DEHP are endocrine disruptors and are anticipated to be human carcinogens.

How Do I Protect Myself Against Phthalates?

Here are a few steps you can take to limit your phthalate exposure:

  1. Invest in a good water filter. Granular activated carbon (GAC) filters or nano-filtration systems filters will remove/reduce DEHP, a phthalate used in water piping.
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  2. Eat and drink organic. As phthalates are used in pesticides and can be found in sewage that is used may conventional agricultural practices.
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  3. Avoid recycling codes 3 and 7. Plastic products with those codes (especially those containing food and beverages) often contain phthalates, which can in turn leach into your food. Opt for containers with recycling codes 1, 2, or 5.
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  4. Read labels. There are a multitude of phthalate compounds. Some of the most common phthalate compounds to keep an eye out for are:

  • BBP: butyl benzyl phthalate

  • DBP: di-n-butyl phthalate

  • DEP: diethyl phthalate

  • DiDP: di-isodecyl phthalate

  • DiNP: di-isononyll phthalate

  • DnHP: di-n- hexyl phthalate

  • DnOP: di-n-octyl phthalate

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