- These are chemicals that literally hack our metabolism
and make us fatter by changing the way proteins
in the body are expressed
that are crucial for our fat and sugar metabolism.
They also make us sicker because inflammation
in the coronary arteries and in the blood vessels,
that line the brain can contribute
to heart attacks and even stroke.
And because these chemicals contribute
to disease and disability that affects
our healthcare system, we all pay.
And ultimately these chemicals make us poor.
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Phthalates are synthetic chemicals
that were not designed with the human body in mind.
And unfortunately, that lack of design
with the human body in mind means that it
can have multiple consequences for human health.
They're often found in fragrances,
they're found in shampoos and lotions.
They're also in softer plastic food wraps
and other forms of food, packaging and plastic bottles.
They're used in polyvinyl chloride plastic bottles
because they soften that kind of plastic.
So they can even be found in food containers.
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Phthalates are not covalently bound
to the plastic lining itself
so they can resorb readily onto food.
Also, if the plastic packaging
is warmed or washed with harsher detergents,
that facilitates the leaching
of the chemical into food, into the human body.
There are no safe level of these chemicals
that have been truly identified.
In fact, the problem with this group of chemicals
is that we can't assume that only the dose
makes the thing a poison.
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Now nothing in this study undermines
the importance of healthy diet
and physical activity for the prevention
of obesity, diabetes, or even heart disease.
But unfortunately we have a extremely rapidly growing body
of knowledge that identify synthetic chemical exposures
as a third important risk factor
for the development of these chronic conditions
that are unfortunately so disabling.
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When adults die early in life, say to heart disease,
they aren't able to contribute to the economy
in their peak earning years.
And so we added up the costs in the form
of lost economic productivity of adults who died early
as a result phthalates exposures in our study.
And when you add that up over the US population,
you're talking anywhere from about 40 to $47 billion a year.
So that's another cost that we have to balance
when we think about the ongoing use of this chemical
from a safety perspective.
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We clearly have a regulatory framework that is outdated.
When you look at chemicals
unintentionally or intentionally added to foods,
many of the rules that are still set in 2010,
go back to the 1960s in the form of
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Particularly when it comes to chemicals
unintentionally or intentionally added to cosmetics,
there's even a fragrance loophole that allows
the chemical industry or the fragrance industry
to add these chemicals without identifying what they are
under the so-called trade secret exemption.
So there are multiple unfortunate flaws in the framework,
and we think that this study really suggests
an urgent need for policy action.
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