DEHP

[charlie.cray@green2.greenpeace.org]

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Original-TO:      dioxin-l@essential.org
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to:  Martin Simson and all others interested
 
the chemical you asked about (bis (di-ethyl-hexyl) phthalate) also known as
DEHP, is a plasticizer added principally to PVC to make it flexible.  At least
95% of DEHP is used in PVC plastic.  Over three million metric tons of
phthalates are consumed every year globally (in the US 300 million pounds of
phthalates are produced each year -- about 270 million pounds of this is DEHP),
and they are found throughout the environment.  
(DEHP has been found in air in remote parts of the Pacific Ocean and, according
to the Danish EPA is the most abundant endocrine-disrupting chemical in the
environment.)  
 
Phthalates are not only released into the environment by the factyories that
manufacture them, but during the manufacture of plastics that contain them (the
largest TRI emitter of DEHP in Ohio in one recent year, for instance was
Baxter, who uses them in making PVC-based medical devices), during the
products' use and even after they are disposed of.  The kinds of PVC products
made with DEHP include cable coatings, floorings, wall paper, artificial
leather, packaging and toys.  Up to 60% of the total weight of some products
may be the plasticizer.
 
The PVC industry's claim that phthalates are only "weakly" estrogenic ignores

the fact that the timing of the dose is more important than the magnitude --
which is why there was a scare in the UK when people found phthalates in all
brands of infant formula!
 
The solution is to ban (phase-out) PVC, which is what the Danish parliament is
considering -- a proposal brought by the Parliament's environment committee,
backed up by the Danish EPA, which published a report of the potential toxic
and estrogen-mimicking effects of the plasticizers bis(2-0ethylhexyl)phthalate
and diisodecyl phthalate (Chemical Week, Feb 7, p. 41).
 
This issue deserves attention in the US, but hasn't received it yet.  The
industry knows it is coming.  
 
Charlie Cray
Greenpeace
847 W. Jackson
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 563-6060
(312) 563-6099 fx
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