The U.S. phthalates industry, represented by the Phthalate Esters Panel of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), is dedicated to the continued safe use of phthalates, a family of compounds primarily used to soften vinyl. Phthalates provide many product and consumer benefits—public health, performance, durability and function—and are used in many important applications for these reasons, from recreational and safety equipment to building and construction materials. Phthalates are among the most thoroughly studied families of compounds in the world and have a long history of safe use.

Phthalates Basics Q&A

 Q. What are phthalates?
A. Phthalates are a family of compounds whose primary use is as a vinyl softener. They are colorless, oily liquids with little or no odor and low volatility. Phthalates provide many product and consumer benefits—public health, performance, durability and function—and are used in many important applications for these reasons, from recreational and safety equipment to medical devices to building and construction materials.

» back to top

Q. What are phthalates used for?
 A. Phthalates are the primary plasticizer in use today because of performance, cost, durability, and overall product sustainability benefits. Primarily, phthalates are an important ingredient in flexible vinyl products, such as wiring and cabling, wall covering and flooring. They are also used in vinyl blood bags and IV tubing  used to help save lives. Other phthalates are used as solvents or fixatives, for example, to make fragrances last long.

» back to top

Q. What is known about the safety of phthalates?
A. Phthalates are among the most thoroughly studied family of compounds in the world and have a long history of safe use. An immense amount of information on the safety profiles of various phthalates is available to the public and users of this Web site.

» back to top

Q. Do phthalates leach out of products and accumulate in our bodies?
A. Phthalates do not migrate out of products easily and they do not build up in the body. Phthalates begin to break down within minutes and are eliminated from the body within hours. Based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studies, average phthalates exposures are far below levels set by U.S. federal agencies to be protective of human health.

As an example, Dr. Michael Kamrin, Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University's Institute for Environmental Toxicology, concluded that human exposures to the phthalates of most concern are generally thousands of times lower than the lowest adverse effect levels for these phthalates, even in the most sensitive animal species.

» back to top

Q. Shouldn’t the effects of phthalates be studied as a whole, because various phthalates can act in the same ways on organisms?
A. Even if you add up the effects of the different phthalates that might be expected to act in the same way on organisms, CDC data tells us that exposure is still below federal safety levels. Dr. Robert Benson, acting independently from his role in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, assessed the daily human dose of all the phthalates that show adverse effects in rats to see if the combined effects would exceed government safety levels. His conclusion, published in the March 2009 issue of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology stated that “…it is unlikely that humans are suffering adverse effects from current environmental exposure to these phthalate esters.”

» back to top