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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/jun/infant-phthalates">http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/jun/infant-phthalates</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
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<b><font size="6" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:24.0pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">Infants exposed to 'potentially harmful' chemicals in vinyl
<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"><br>
By <a href="http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/archives.jsp?sm=&tn=0reporter&tv=Lindsey+Konkel&ss=1">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">Lindsey Konkel</span></font></a><br>
Staff Writer<br>
Environmental Health News<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">June 10, 2014<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Most babies born prematurely and one-third of full-term infants are exposed to
chemicals found in vinyl “at a potentially harmful level,” according to new <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/advpub/2014/5/ehp.1307569.pdf">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">research</span></font></a> in Finland.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The study of 125 babies from the day they were born to 14 months old is the first
comprehensive examination of infants’ exposure to several phthalates. The chemicals, considered hormone disruptors, have been linked to health effects in animal tests and some human studies, including altered male genitalia, attention and learning problems
and asthma.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The sources of the phthalates in the babies are unknown. But some researchers
suspect that they came from hospital equipment or household materials.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“We were really surprised to see that metabolites of several phthalates were
elevated in both preterm and full-term infants,” said Hanne Frederiksen, the lead study author from Copenhagen University in Denmark.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Shanna Swan, an environmental health scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New
York, said she is concerned by the findings because preterm babies already have “a whole lot stacked against them.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“Prematurity itself is a known risk factor for neurodevelopmental impacts, so
it’s particularly concerning to see preterm infants at the greatest risk and having the highest exposures,” said Swan, who was not involved with the study. Her 2005
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1280349/"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">research</span></font></a> linked feminization of male baby genitalia to phthalates.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="3" color="#057234" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#057234;font-weight:bold">“Prematurity itself is a known risk factor for neurodevelopmental
impacts, so it’s particularly concerning to see preterm infants at the greatest risk and having the highest exposures.” –<i><span style="font-style:italic">Shanna Swan, Mount Sinai Hospital</span></i>
</span></font></b><font color="black"><span style="color:windowtext">Eighty percent of the infants born before 37 week and 30 percent of the full-term infants had levels of four phthalate metabolites in their urine that exceeded adult guidelines, based on hormone
effects, set by the European Food Safety Authority.<br>
<br>
In animal tests, the chemicals had anti-androgenic effects on offspring, which means they blocked male hormones that guide reproductive development.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">But it’s unclear what health outcomes, if any, can be attributed to high exposures
to phthalates during infancy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“We spend a lot of time focusing on the prenatal environment and the mother,
but less is known about infancy. It’s a potentially important window of exposure too,” said Joe Braun, an epidemiologist at Brown University who was not involved with the study.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The researchers compared the babies’ risks to the levels that the European agency
deemed safe for adults in their daily intake of food. However, infants have immature immune and metabolic systems, so they “may be more susceptible than adults,” Frederiksen said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Previous research found that pregnant women exposed to high levels have a greater
risk of having a preterm baby. That finding, combined with the new findings, may mean these babies are highly exposed before and after birth.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"><img border="0" width="400" height="300" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CF8626.A1C22C10" alt="http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/images/2014/ehn/jun/ivtubing.jpg"></span></font><font color="black"><span style="color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<font size="1" color="#999999" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#999999"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/64939463@N00/386148013"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">Alexander N/flickr</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<font size="1" color="#555555" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:8.5pt;color:#555555">Some hospitals are minimizing the use of tubing and fluid bags that contain phthalates.</span></font><font size="2" color="#555555"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#555555"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">In the new study, at ages of one week and one month, the preterm babies had between
five and 500 times higher levels of several of the chemicals (known as DEHP, BBzP and DiNP) than full-term infants. Their levels dropped after they left the hospital, which on average, was 39 days after birth. Those chemicals are generally used to soften plastics.
Other phthalates used in fragrances were nearly the same in the preterm and the full-term infants.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">After the age of two months, the exposures evened out between the two groups,
with about 30 percent of all infants exceeding the guidelines for daily intake, according to the study, which was published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">For adults, food is a major source of phthalates such as DEHP, which may be used
in some food packaging or processing equipment.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">In the study, however, it made no difference whether infants were breast-fed
or bottle-fed, “which points to exposure sources other than diet…such as the general home environment,” the researchers wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Previous
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16966100"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">studies</span></font></a> have suggested that preterm infants may be exposed to DEHP from IV tubing and fluid bags. In 2002, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
<a href="http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/PublicHealthNotifications/ucm062182.htm%20">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">advised</span></font></a> hospitals to minimize use of medical equipment containing the chemical, especially for male newborns, because studies had shown effects on the male reproductive tract.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">As a result, some hospitals have moved to phase out soft plastics containing
DEHP. In 2012, Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed care organization in the United States, announced it would no longer buy IV solution bags and tubing containing DEHP or polyvinyl chloride. The phthalate also has been banned in the United States from toys
and other children’s products.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Chemical manufacturers have long maintained that the plasticizers are safe.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“There is no reliable evidence that any phthalate has ever caused a health problem
for a human from its intended use. A vast body of scientific evidence shows that phthalates break down within minutes and are quickly eliminated from the body,” Lisa Dry, a spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, which represents manufacturers of
phthalates, said in an emailed response.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Swan said infants born today might not have the same patterns of exposure as
those in the study, who were born in 2006 through 2008. Chemical formulations have changed in recent years. A
<a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1306681/"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">study</span></font></a> of American adults and children released earlier this year found that average exposures to DEHP decreased by 37 percent between 2001 and 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-style:italic">EHN welcomes republication of our stories, but we require
that publications include the author's name and Environmental Health News at the top of the piece, along with a link back to EHN's version.</span></font></i><font color="black"><span style="color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-style:italic">For questions or feedback about this piece, contact Editor
in Chief Marla Cone at <a href="mailto:mcone@ehn.org"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">mcone@ehn.org</span></font></a>.</span></font></i><font color="black"><span style="color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Deborah L. DeBiasi</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;font-weight:bold">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</span></font></b><b><i><font size="2" color="red"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:red;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic"><br>
</span></font></i></b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">WEB site address:
<a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/">www.deq.virginia.gov</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Virginia Department of Environmental Quality</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Office of Water Permits
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx">http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Mail: P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA 23218</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Location: 629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PH: 804-698-4028 FAX: 804-698-4032<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
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