Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Front Public Health. 2024 Nov 13;12:1473222. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1473222. eCollection 2024.
Ortho-phthalates (herein referred to as phthalates) are synthetic chemicals used in thousands of different everyday products and materials. Nearly ubiquitous environmental exposure is reflected by phthalate metabolites in the urine of almost all Canadians. However, phthalate exposure tends to be higher amongst people of low socioeconomic status and ethnic minorities. Substantial evidence shows that certain phthalates cause harm to human health, particularly developing fetuses and children. Governments vary in their approach to assessing and managing risks associated with phthalates. Canada continues to take a more permissive stance on phthalate regulations compared to the EU and some US states. We argue that the recent Canadian national risk assessment on phthalates does not appropriately reflect the growing evidence demonstrating harm to human health from phthalate exposure and does not adequately consider the evidence showing higher exposures faced by vulnerable populations. Canadians would benefit from adopting a more stringent regulatory approach to phthalates. Specifically, Canada should expand phthalate restrictions to apply to all consumer products, implement sunset dates toward eliminating the use of existing phthalates, and mandate publicly available evidence of no harm for phthalate alternatives. Canadian alignment on phthalate regulations with the EU and a growing number of US states could encourage other countries to follow suit.
邻苯二甲酸酯（以下简称邻苯二甲酸盐）是一种用于数千种不同日常产品和材料的合成化学物质。几乎所有加拿大人体内的尿液中都含有邻苯二甲酸盐代谢物，这表明他们几乎无处不在地接触到了这种化学物质。然而，处于社会经济地位较低和少数族裔的人群中，邻苯二甲酸盐的暴露水平往往更高。大量证据表明，某些邻苯二甲酸盐会对人类健康造成危害，尤其是对发育中的胎儿和儿童。各国政府在评估和管理与邻苯二甲酸盐相关风险的方法上存在差异。与欧盟和一些美国州相比，加拿大在邻苯二甲酸盐法规方面继续采取更为宽松的立场。我们认为，加拿大最近对邻苯二甲酸盐进行的国家风险评估并没有充分反映出越来越多的证据表明邻苯二甲酸盐暴露对人类健康造成的危害，也没有充分考虑到证据表明脆弱人群面临更高的暴露风险。加拿大应该采取更严格的监管方法来管理邻苯二甲酸盐。具体来说，加拿大应该扩大邻苯二甲酸盐的限制范围，使其适用于所有消费品，实施逐步淘汰现有邻苯二甲酸盐的使用期限，并强制要求提供邻苯二甲酸盐替代品无害的公开证据。加拿大与欧盟和越来越多的美国州在邻苯二甲酸盐法规上的统一，可能会鼓励其他国家效仿。
