A widely used chemical additive that imparts high flexibility to plastics might also carry adverse effects: new investigations suggest it contributes to nearly 2 million premature births annually. The study’s findings were published in the journal eClinicalMedicine.
Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) belongs to the chemical group known as phthalates, which have long been implicated in posing risks to human well-being.
Phthalates are ubiquitous, found in a broad spectrum of products ranging from cosmetics and cleaning agents to insect repellents, stated a team of researchers from the NYU Langone Health medical center in New York.
According to their new research outcomes, in 2018, 1.97 million premature births globally—representing roughly 8% of all preterm deliveries that year—were linked to maternal exposure to DEHP. The researchers pointed out that approximately 74,000 of these newborns passed away.
DEHP is capable of breaking down into microscopic particles that humans can inhale or ingest through water or food.
“Our findings, assessing the contribution of phthalate exposure to premature births worldwide, underscore that reducing exposure, especially in vulnerable areas, could help prevent preterm births and associated health complications,” noted the study’s lead author, Sarah Hyman, in an NYU Langone press release. She is a research fellow at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine.
By utilizing survey data collected across the USA, Europe, Canada, and other nations, Hyman’s team was able to estimate DEHP exposure levels for people across 200 countries globally.
They then compared this data with outcomes from prior studies that quantified the effect of DEHP exposure on the likelihood of experiencing preterm birth.
The researchers indicated that in certain geographical areas—specifically the Middle East and Southeast Asia—where the plastics industry is particularly prevalent and exposure levels are high, these regions might account for over half of all DEHP-related premature births.
Infants in Africa faced the greatest risk of mortality following premature delivery.
The research group from NYU highlighted that substituting DEHP with another phthalate, called diisononyl phthalate (DiNP), might not resolve the issue.
Their analysis revealed that exposure to DiNP correlated with only a marginal reduction in preterm births, hovering around 1.9 million cases yearly.
“Our analysis clearly shows that regulating phthalates one by one and replacing them with less-studied substitutes is unlikely to fix the larger problem,” stated study co-author Professor Leonardo Trasande from NYU. “We are playing a risky game of chemical whack-a-mole, and these findings emphasize the urgent need for stricter, comprehensive oversight of plastic additives to avoid repeating past mistakes.”
As the research team observed, this plastic-component chemical may impact health through other avenues as well. Hyman mentioned that other studies have linked phthalate exposure to an elevated probability of developing cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and infertility.
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