REVIEW OF PHTHALATES USED IN INDUSTRY, OCCURRENCE, HUMAN EXPOSURE ANDPOTENTIAL IMPACT ON HEALTH^1

Phthalates, a group of synthetic chemicals representing a broad chemical family, have been manufactured in millions of tons and are widely used in industrial and consumer products. Phthalates migration out of these products has posed a serious contamination problem both for the eco-system and for humans using the products.Toxicity data from recent studies on laboratory animals have revealed the extent of damage phthalates cancause to the animals bio-system. Many of these studies, however, concluded that there is correlation of some of these effects in humans. It is this correlation that has raised serious health concerns in DevelopedCountries.Noting that a wide range of these very same consumer and industrial products are being marketed on alarge scale in the GCC and other ME countries; this paper aims at enhancing equal health concerns inthese countries. It proposes to do so through:1.Providing information on the occurrence of phthalates in industrial products.2.Summarizing the current knowledge about human exposure.3.Presenting the potential health impact of exposure to an actual mixture of these chemicals.