[01 Jul 2010]
Some important facts
Medical devices are crucial to the high standards of modern healthcare that we now take for granted. The many thousands of different types of devices which exist today are advanced modern products that have to respond to highly specific performance requirements. For many of them, PVC softened with the plasticiser di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is the ideal material. DEHP - the member of the phthalate family used in almost all PVC healthcare applications - is actually specified by the European Pharmacopoeia as the plasticiser for blood bags. For the vast majority of its uses there is no concern about the safety of DEHP.
[19 Nov 2009]
"Parents should not be concerned about reports of “gender-bending” phthalates affecting their children’s brains or habits."
It is not just the plasticiser and PVC industry who are suggesting that the recently published study claiming that pre-natal exposure to DEHP has a feminising effect on young boys should be treated with extreme caution.
[16 Nov 2009]
A new study, which claims to show that prenatal exposure to DEHP and DBP has a feminising effect on young boys, should be treated with extreme caution, says the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates (ECPI).
[22 Oct 2004]
New study confirms no long-term effects from life-saving medical devices
A study of a group of teenagers, highly exposed to di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) as babies, has shown no adverse effects on their physical growth or sexual development.
[14 Nov 2003]
The State of California's action in listing DEHP as a reproductive toxicant under the provisions of Proposition 65 is not justified by the scientific evidence, according to the American Chemistry Council's Phthalate Esters Panel.
[20 Oct 2003]
EU Risk Assessment comes a stage closer to conclusion
EU member state experts have confirmed that the health of people in
general is not being endangered by the use of one of the world's
most commonly used plasticisers, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP).
The experts, representing all 15 EU member states at a technical
meeting held in Italy to discuss the EU risk assessment for DEHP,
agreed that the exposure of the general population is well below
(at least 280 times) levels at which their health might be put at
risk. Therefore no risk reduction measures are needed for the
general population.
[13 Mar 2003]
High Doses Show No Testicular Effects in Developing Primates
The safe use of the plasticiser Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate
(DEHP) has been further confirmed by a major new scientific
research study which shows that reproductive effects seen in
rodents are unlikely to be relevant to humans.
[21 Feb 2003]
On February 20, 2003 the environmental organisation Health Care Without Harm issued a press release about a proposal from Sweden to restrict the use of DEHP. The Health Care Without Harm Statement is both misleading and factually incorrect. HCWH fails to mention a number of facts.
[24 Oct 2002]
The European Union's Scientific Committee on Medicinal Products and
Medical Devices has published an Opinion on the use of
di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in medical devices saying that it
can make no recommendations to limit its use, even for the most
highly exposed patients.
[10 Jul 2002]
The European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates Response to HCWH Report on "Aggregate Exposures to Phthalates in Humans"