Infants whose parents applied baby lotions, powders and shampoos to their young skin had elevated levels of a chemical believed to harm developing endocrine and reproductive systems, according to a study published today.
The more products that parents applied, the higher the level of the chemical, according to one of the first studies to examine how babies are exposed to phthalates through their skin, as opposed to ingesting or inhaling the chemicals.
Phthalates (pronounced THA-lates) - a family of nearly ubiquitous chemicals used to make plastic toys softer, fragrances last longer and medical tubing flexible - are banned in toys and personal care products in the European Union.
"We don't really know what the health effects are," said Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a pediatrician at the University of Washington and lead author of the study published in today's edition of the journal Pediatrics. "The theory from a lot of scientists is, we're changing reproductive health over time."
Industry researchers dispute any association made between baby care products and increased phthalate levels in children.
Dr. John Bailey, chief scientist at the Washington-based Personal Care Products Council, said the findings "really don't make sense." Of the seven phthalates that Sathyanarayana's study found in the infants, only one is used in baby products and that one only in small amounts, he said.
"If they're finding them, they're coming from somewhere else," Bailey said.
The study involved 163 children, mostly under the age of 2, whose wet diapers were collected and analyzed for evidence of metabolized phthalates. Their mothers filled out questionnaires asking which, if any, baby care products they had used on their children over the previous 24 hours.
All of the children, even those as young as two months, had measurable phthalate levels, but more than 80 percent had seven or more phthalates detectable in their urine. The more baby care products used, the study found, the more phthalates researchers found, a correlation that was strongest in babies under 8 months old.
Sathyanarayana and her colleagues did not test the baby care products themselves, but note that phthalates have been found in many adult personal care products.
Not enough is known about phthalates to determine whether the levels detected in the children are safe, Sathyanarayana said. "We don't know what a toxic concentration might be of these chemicals in humans," she said.
