What’s the deal with phthalates?

The phonetic pronunciation is:

THĂL - ātes

Like the silent "p" in pneumonia, the "Ph" in phthalates is silent, too. The first Ă is short … like in the word "gallon." The second ā is long … like in the word "date."

So, say it with me: THĂL – ātes.

This white paper is broken into two parts:

Part 1: What are phthalates and what are their impacts on health?

Part 2: Why phthalates just don't matter when talking about rigid vinyl building products.

From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to make plastics more flexible and harder to break. They are often called plasticizers. Some phthalates are used as solvents (dissolving agents) for other materials. They are used in hundreds of products, such as vinyl flooring, adhesives, detergents, lubricating oils, automotive plastics, plastic clothes (raincoats), and personal-care products (soaps, shampoos, hair sprays, and nail polishes).

Phthalates are used widely in polyvinyl chloride plastics, which are used to make products such as plastic packaging film and sheets, garden hoses, inflatable toys, blood-storage containers, medical tubing, and some children's toys.

Marcia Wade writing for WebMD confirms and expands on the CDC's list, saying phthalates are in:

• Cosmetics and personal care products, from perfume, nail polish, and hair spray to soap, shampoo, and skin moisturizers
• Wood finishes, detergents, adhesives, plastic plumbing pipes, lubricants, solvents, insecticides, building materials, and vinyl flooring
• Food, especially meat and dairy products and fast food

Depending on the source consulted, there as many as 26 common phthalates.

This diversity in chemical compounds makes sense when one considers all the products that use phthalates. For instance, one compound that might work best in perfume or shampoo likely may not "work" in plastic plumbing pipes.

Per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Phthalates Action Plan: "Phthalates are produced in high volume – over 470 million pounds a year.

We need to provide some perspective … when one looks at the overall production of all chemicals in the U.S. and globally each year, the numbers are frankly staggering … almost overwhelming. We just don't realize the number of chemicals we use every day – from those in our toothpaste; to the gasoline, oil and other fluids in our vehicles, to the fluoride in the water we drink; to the thousands of chemicals used in manufacturing of all kinds.

The point here is phthalates are just another chemical.

The two most-prevalent concerns about phthalates are:

• Potential human health effects of exposure to phthalates
• Long-term accumulative effects of chemicals in the human body

The following graphic from the National Institutes of Health outlines the three primary methods of exposure:

Ingestion (swallowing)

• Eating food or water packaged in plastic, or drinking water contaminated with phthalates; for children, chewing on soft vinyl toys or products made with phthalates

Inhalation (breathing)

• Breathing dust in rooms with plastic miniblinds, wallpaper, or flooring that contain phthalates

Skin contact

• Touching or using products made with phthalates

Per the CDC:

Once phthalates enter a person's body, they are converted into breakdown products (metabolites) that pass out quickly in urine.

The concerns about certain phthalates is 1) the total volume of them entering and passing through the body, 2) any potential health effects from a high volume of those compounds in the body, and 3) whether those phthalates might interact with other chemicals and cause a human-health effect.

Yes, there are. To keep this scientific information digestible, we'll synopsize them here, but will also provide references in the footnotes.

The phrase most often heard when talking about the health impacts of phthalates is that they are endocrine disruptors. Per the National Institutes of Health:

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that may interfere with the body's endocrine system and produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and wildlife.

Becasue it's been a while since we had 10th grade Biology, here's a definition from WebMD of the Endocrine System:

The endocrine system is a network of glands in your body that make the hormones that help cells talk to each other. They're responsible for almost every cell, organ, and function in your body.

Studies of the potential health effects of phthalates center around three primary areas:

• Reproductive Health – impacts on hormones, developmental effects, pregnancy, etc.
• Breast Cancer
• Asthma, especially in children

So, to wrap up Part 1, and answer the main question of this paper, there are concerns with phthalates and potential impacts on human health.

Now, hold on to your chair and keep reading because we are about to blow some bad thinking right out of the water.

There's an old adage called Occam's Razor, which states: The simplest explanation is often the most correct one.

When it comes to the discussion of rigid vinyl, and applying Occam's Razor, we make the following statement:

Architects, designers, building owners and occupants do not need to worry about phthalates when specifying rigid vinyl because the material contains no phthalates.

We're not being rash. We aren't shading the truth. We're not putting any "spin" on it, nor are we putting lipstick on the PVC pig.

We simply go back to the very first question in Part 1 of this white paper: "What are phthalates?" to draw a simple, common-sense conclusion.

From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to make plastics more flexible.

We don't know how else to say it … rigid vinyl isn't designed to be flexible … that's why there are no phthalates in it. Period.

Yes, we understand the concerns about phthalates in soft / flexible vinyl products. We commend those scientists and medical researchers who are engaged in ongoing studies of the issue.

As we’ve clearly stated, the risk of exposure to phthalates from rigid vinyl is just not an issue because rigid vinyl does not contain that chemical.

You can confidently choose rigid vinyl for your next project and still sleep at night.