Phthalates (The P is silent, like the regulators and manufacturers) are “used in everything” according to basic searches. They’re used to make plastics more durable and improve flexibility and longevity. Phthalates do occur naturally, but of course, the dangerous things are as usual self-inflicted human ideas.
Phthalates are tasteless, odorless, and colorless, much like politicians, except that phthalates happen in the real world. They’re found in food, cosmetics, packaging, or more simply wherever there are plastics, there are phthalates. The phthalates also leach from products using them into anything they contact, particularly people.
These compounds affect:
Reproduction (See downright scary current NYT article)
IQ, notably developmental IQ in kids
Hormonal issues, male and female
“Omnipresent poisons” about covers the range. These compounds are considered extremely toxic in so many forms and applications. There is simply no good news about phthalates in any context. Check out these news items for a very long list of ongoing health risks. Risks include folksy stuff about the human food chain and all-round environmental damage.
Thanks for the microplastics, couldn’t have done it without you. Phthalates are “present in food, soap, lino, packaging, baked goods”, …Insert dictionary here. The CDC Phthalates Factsheet includes 3 sentences on How Phthalates Affect People’s Health, with the remark that “more research is needed”.
Good old Dumb And Proud Of It America strikes again? Not quite.
This is a truly global mess. Good old Dumb And Proud Of It America has done its best to not consider any and all the issues, but everyone’s contributing. Just add a few commercial skanks, and that’s the story.
There is also a long, howling public scream about phthalates which isn’t getting a lot of mainstream coverage. Unlike the CDC, just about all other information on phthalates is far less polite. There was even a petition to ban these chemicals, which was rejected by the FDA this year.
Far less impressive is the systemic failure to even look like phthalates are being taken seriously.
- Let’s try a slight joining of dots:
- Human fertility is in crisis, truly crashing while simultaneously being hideously stressed by “economics”.
- Male fertility may hit zero by 2045 at the rate it’s declining.
- Exposure to phthalates is linked to many major diseases including diabetes. (Diabetes?)
- Hormonal disorders of many different kinds are now extremely common. Do we need another disruptive class of chemicals?
- In combination with other serious serial bio pollutants, phthalates are right up there with glyphosate
- The phthalates are already known as a dangerous universal class of toxins and not much is happening at any level.
- Phthalate residues and their presence in the environment are unquantified. Nobody knows how much of these possibly genocidal wastes are out there.
Just more mismanagement? Or is it Euphemize Total Failure Time, yet again?
Call me a dewy-eyed vicious sentimental Australian, but the management pattern here is of massive systemic issue evasion. Like all rampaging global toxins, phthalates seem to have a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
If you were consciously trying to wipe out the human race, this mix of toxic environmental elements would be what you’d choose. Reproduction crash, multiple health risks in all parts of the environment, and no action at all. Idyllic, isn’t it?
If you ask the simple question “What neutralizes phthalates?” you get the interesting news that the half-life of phthalates is short “provided detox pathways are working”. So they get excreted and presumably scamper away. The problem with this Utopian vision is that you then consume, or are exposed, to more of them.
There’s no indication of any interest in phasing out these chemicals at any level. The same people poisoning the planet and going nuts at the public expense obviously have more important things on their non-existent minds. Like promoting QAnon or Trump’s latest infantile disasters.
No wonder this world is a sewer. It simply reflects the mental capacity of those running it.
A few suggestions
Phthalates are old polymer tech. The properties they provide should be present at the molecular level. It’s not that hard. You just have to stay awake in high school and first year industrial chemistry, you scamps, you.
Neutralization and elimination of plastics and their chemically associated vermin needs to be done anyway. Phthalate eradication needs to be part of this process.
These compounds are by definition chemically active. Bond them to something that picks up micro particulates and see what happens. Develop the tech from there.
Make the equation between natural phthalates and harmless forms of the compounds. If we must have phthalates, use the harmless forms. Not exactly a stunning revelation, is it?
Proper monitoring of exposure is obviously required. This can be done by chemical tests, medical stats and god help us all, a bit of competence, preferably backed up by actual comprehension.
Now the really good news – The Grovelling Sector, that fun-loving global advocacy cadre of anything that causes human suffering, can profit. You can advocate not being turned into a biological train wreck and get paid for it! Oh, happy day!
To quote someone – Just do it.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
