A recent study has highlighted the ongoing exposure of Southern Californians to harmful airborne substances known as plasticizers, including one that has been prohibited in products for children and cosmetics.
A recent study has highlighted the ongoing exposure of Southern Californians to harmful airborne substances known as plasticizers, including one that has been prohibited in products for children and cosmetics.
Plasticizers are chemical substances that enhance flexibility in various materials. They can be found in numerous products, such as lunch boxes, shower curtains, garden hoses, and furniture coverings.
“They’re not just limited to drinking straws or grocery bags,” stated David Volz, an environmental sciences professor at UC Riverside and the lead author of the study published in the journal Environmental Research.
Previous monitoring efforts in California primarily concentrated on plasticizers known as ortho-phthalates, many of which have been eliminated from production due to health and environmental risks. There has been less investigation into the impacts of their substitutes, known as non-ortho-phthalates.
The findings from this study showed that both types of plasticizers are present in the air across Southern California.
“The concentration of these compounds is astonishingly high,” Volz indicated. “We didn’t anticipate that. Therefore, we believe it’s crucial for the public to be informed about this research.”
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences aims to promote awareness of this study, as it is one of the few documenting the presence of phthalates in urban air. Their monthly publication, Environmental Factor, will feature this study in the October 2024 edition.
The researchers monitored two sets of undergraduate students from UCR who traveled from different locations in Southern California. Both groups wore silicone wristbands specifically designed to collect data on airborne chemical exposure.
The first group wore the wristbands for five days in 2019, while the second wore two separate wristbands for five days each in 2020. Participants wore the bands continuously as they went about their daily activities. At the end of the collection period, the researchers cut the wristbands into pieces for chemical analysis.
In an earlier publication, the team focused on TDCIPP, a flame retardant known to cause cancer, which was detected in the wristbands. They found that students with longer commutes had increased exposures to TDCIPP.
In contrast to TDCIPP, which likely transfers from car seats into dust, the team could not identify the exact sources of the plasticizers. Since these substances are airborne, the wristbands could have absorbed them from various locations, even outside the students’ vehicles.
For every gram of the chopped wristbands, researchers found between 100,000 and 1 million nanograms of three specific phthalates: DiNP, DEHP, and DEHT. While ten plasticizers were measured in total, these three were particularly notable.
Both DiNP and DEHP are listed on California’s Proposition 65, which identifies chemicals known to pose cancer risks, cause birth defects, or harm reproductive health. DEHT has been introduced as an alternative, yet its potential health effects remain under-researched.
This research suggests that the introduction of DEHT has not significantly reduced public exposure to DiNP or DEHP. The concentrations of all three chemicals identified by Volz and his team matched levels found in unrelated studies conducted on the East Coast.
Despite differing climates, both coasts likely experience similar amounts of phthalates in the air.
“Regardless of your identity or location, your daily exposure levels to these plasticizer chemicals are high and persistent,” Volz stated. “They are everywhere.”
According to Volz, studies like this underline the urgent need for alternatives to plastic. As plastics break down, compounds such as plasticizers are released into both the environment and the human body.
“The only way to lower plasticizer concentrations in the air is to reduce our production and use of plastic-containing materials,” he remarked.
