Phthalates are a group of chemicals commonly found in a variety of everyday products, such as plastics, personal care items, and cleaning products. Studies have suggested that exposure to phthalates may be linked to the growth of uterine fibroids, which are noncancerous tumors that grow in the uterus.
The most frequent tumor in women, uterine fibroids, have been shown for the first time to grow more rapidly when exposed to environmental phthalates, which are harmful chemicals prevalent in popular consumer products.
Environmental phthalates are used by manufacturers in a wide range of industrial and consumer goods, and they have also been found in food and medical supplies. Although they are known to be toxic, they are currently unbanned in the U.S.
“These toxic pollutants are everywhere, including food packaging, hair, and makeup products, and more, and their usage is not banned,” said corresponding study author Dr. Serdar Bulun, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician. “These are more than simply environmental pollutants. They can cause specific harm to human tissues.”
According to Bulun, fibroid tumors can develop in up to 80% of women throughout the course of their lifespan. One-fourth of these women develop symptoms such as uncontrollable and heavy uterine bleeding, anemia, miscarriages, infertility, and huge abdominal tumors requiring technically challenging procedures.
A symptomatic fibroid is more likely to develop in women who have a high exposure to several phthalates, such as DEHP (used as a plasticizer to strengthen the durability of products like shower curtains, automobile upholstery, lunchboxes, shoes, and more), and its metabolites.
The study will be published Nov. 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
This paper addresses the processes underlying the relationship between phthalate exposure and the formation of uterine fibroid that has previously been reported in epidemiological studies.
The researchers found that DEHP exposure may activate a hormonal pathway that causes an environmentally responsive receptor (AHR) to bind to DNA and promote the formation of fibroid tumors.
“Interestingly, AHR was cloned in the early ’90s as the receptor for dioxin, the key toxin in the agent orange,” Bulun said. “The use of agent orange during the Vietnam war caused significant reproductive abnormalities in the exposed populations; and dioxin and AHR were thought to be responsible for this.”
This new study, Bulun said, provides further evidence to support these theories.
More about DEHP:
The most extensively utilized phthalate has been DEHP. Despite growing public concern and some legal limitations in nations of the European Union, it is still widely used for the packaging of food and health items in the United States and elsewhere in the world.
DEHP can gradually leak from consumer products into indoor spaces like houses, workplaces, schools, and daycare facilities. It can gather in dust and the atmosphere and settles on floors and other surfaces. During pregnancy, DEHP can pass from mother to baby.
