Uses
Phthalates are used in a large variety of products, from enteric coatings of pharmaceutical pills and nutritional supplements to viscosity control agents, gelling agents, film formers, stabilizers, dispersants, lubricants, binders, emulsifying agents, and suspending agents. End-applications include adhesives and glues, agricultural adjuvants, building materials, personal-care products, medical devices, detergents and surfactants, packaging, children's toys, modelling clay, waxes, paints, printing inks and coatings, pharmaceuticals, food products, and textiles. Phthalates are also frequently used in soft plastic fishing lures, caulk, paint pigments, and sex toys made of so-called "jelly rubber". Phthalates are used in a variety of household applications such as shower curtains, vinyl upholstery, adhesives, floor tiles, food containers and wrappers, and cleaning materials. Personal-care items containing phthalates include perfume, eye shadow, moisturizer, nail polish, liquid soap, and hair spray. They are also found in modern electronics and medical applications such as catheters and blood transfusion devices. The most widely used phthalates are the di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), the diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), and the diisononyl phthalate (DINP). DEHP is the dominant plasticizer used in PVC due to its low cost. Benzylbutylphthalate (BBP) is used in the manufacture of foamed PVC, which is mostly used as a flooring material. Phthalates with small R and R' groups are used as solvents in perfumes and pesticides.
Globally, approximately six million tonnes of plasticizers are consumed every year, of which European consumption accounts for approximately 1 million tonnes. They contribute 10-60% of plastic products by weight. More recently in Europe, regulatory developments have resulted in a change in phthalate consumption, with the higher phthalates (DINP and DIDP) replacing DEHP as the plasticizer of choice because DIDP and DIP are not classified as hazardous. DEHP, although most applications are shown to pose no risk when studied using recognsied methods of risk assessment, has been classified as a Category 1A reprotoxin and is now on the Annex XIV of the EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation which means that producers and users will need to submit authorisation requests to the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki to continue to use DEHP. Analysis of such applications will involve studies on alternatives and, given the wide number of compounds that have been used as plasticizers, such evaluations are likely to be far reaching.
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