a third reaction is possible: changing the frame of public health

August 31, 2021 9:13 AM

Phthalates, a class of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, are widely known to be harmful to human health. Phthalates are very common in plastics, cosmetics, and apparently menstrual pads, because certain phthalates (there are many of them) can help a substance dissolve or can make plastics harder to break. Women, femme-identified gender minorities, and children are most vulnerable to exposure because phthalates are so often found in the products they are more likely to use: cleaning products, cosmetics, baby toys, and more. (To be clear, this is a general statement based on how gender roles inform and even constrain choices.) Endocrine disruptors like phthalates disproportionately harm disabled people, poor people, and people who are not cis adult men. What are we going to decide to do about it?
posted by sciatrix (8 comments total)

I am really annoyed by earnest presumably cis people who are writing "people with periods" and then elide that group with "woman and femme-identified gender minorities" and then decide that 'transmen' is the preferred spelling like it's, oh, twenty years ago. Frankly, I'd rather this person just ignore me than "include" me like this.
posted by hoyland at 9:27 AM on August 31, 2021 [2 favorites]

And while I'm coming at this from the "non-binary does not mean femme" angle because that's my sore-spot, I should also point out the way that this article erases amab people (there's a whole can of understudied science there, but I'm pretty sure the author doesn't know about that).
posted by hoyland at 9:31 AM on August 31, 2021 [2 favorites]

I remember reading a book about endocrine disrupters ages ago - 20 years ago, maybe? - and the fact that little seems to have changed since then is very discouraging, as is the complex and confounding interplay of factors, like:

Both studies have also shown that green space in one’s neighborhood is associated with an increase in anti-Müllerian hormone; in the U.S. sample, the green space effect was only true if the air pollutants were also low.

I like Clancy's call to action, though - make some changes in your own life, AND ALSO talk to your representatives about ways to address this on a community and national level. I wonder whether legislation like the Break Free from Plastics Act might be intentionally addressing endocrine disruption, and whether it might help accidentally even if it's not targeting it specifically.

This is really useful (if depressing) to read, sciatrix. Thank you so much for posting it.
posted by kristi at 10:10 AM on August 31, 2021 [4 favorites]

I really like how this article points out the gendered labour of attending to risk. When I read articles about environmentalism that focus on washable silicon “baggies” and or washable beeswax wrap replacements for Saran Wrap or washable metal straws I’m thinking about who ends up washing all that stuff and how much better spent our labour would be on holding manufacturer’s responsible for their products’ packaging.
posted by congen at 10:13 AM on August 31, 2021 [26 favorites]

Huh, not sure if this was deliberately timed or just a wacky coincidence (as it's not mentioned at all in the article) but this morning the US EPA announced that it will conduct an in-depth examination of risks from exposure to two of the most commonly used phthalates, specifically including their effects on vulnerable "subpopulations," which is a necessary step toward regulating them under federal law.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:18 AM on August 31, 2021 [8 favorites]

Are any phthalates banned in the US, or is this only the case in the EU and (still for now at least, ha ha oh god) UK?
posted by ominous_paws at 11:30 AM on August 31, 2021

California and Vermont have laws restricting specific phthalates while Washington has a broad-scope ban on the books and Maine has one set to go into effect next year. The two phthalates EPA moved on today would be the first to be strictly regulated or banned at the federal level, largely because federal authority over industrial applications of toxic chemicals is for the most part very new -- prior to 2016, EPA's power to regulate or ban chemicals like phthalates was so limited that it couldn't even get an asbestos ban through the courts.

Congress finally passed a stronger law that summer, but the process it set up still takes years to play out, plus there was such a backlog that even stuff that's objectively very bad was still left out of the first wave of substances they targeted.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:54 AM on August 31, 2021 [9 favorites]

On a small personal level, I was just this morning thinking how much better menstrual pads are now than they were in my youth. More comfortable, easier to use, higher capacity, far far more reliable. And now I have no idea how much of that is due to terrible chemicals.
posted by clew at 12:24 PM on August 31, 2021 [2 favorites]