Phthalates may play role in pre-term birth

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 8 (UPI) -- U.S. and Mexican researchers suggest phthalates -- used in plastics, personal care products, carpets and paint -- may play a role in pre-term births.

The study, to be published in Environmental Health Perspectives, finds mothers of prematurely delivered babies having up to three times the level of phthalates metabolites in their urine as mothers of normal term babies.

The researchers say toxicity levels of phthalates or their breakdown products vary, but past studies show several phthalates may cause reproductive and developmental toxicity in animals.

"We looked at these commonly used compounds found in consumer products based on the growing amount of animal toxicity data and since national human data show that a large proportion of the population are unknowingly exposed," study leader John Meeker of the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor said in a statement.

"One of the problems for consumers is that you don't know exactly which products contain phthalates because the products do not have to be labeled accordingly."

The study was based on the analysis of urine samples from 60 women -- half who carried to term and half who delivered in less than 37 weeks gestation -- taken from a cohort of women recruited during prenatal visits at one of four clinics of the Mexican Institute of Social Security in Mexico City.