Phthalate DEHP, chemical in everyday household items, linked to 1 in 8 heart disease deaths
Daily exposure to chemicals used for many plastic household items could be linked to more than 356,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease worldwide in 2018, according to a study published this week.
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Researchers at NYU Langone Hospital in New York, in the United States, focused on a phthalate chemical called Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), used to make
food containers and medical equipment and to soften plastic , and also found in pipes and in cosmetics, sprays, detergents and solvents.
It can be ingested after it is broken down into microscopic particles as part of the everyday use of the items that contain it.
Exposure to this chemical contributed to 356,238 deaths, or more than 13 per cent of all global mortality from heart disease in 2018 among men and women aged 55 to 64, the study found. About 75 per cent of the deaths occurred in South Asia, East Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East.
DEHP is used to make food containers, medical equipment and to soften plastic, and is also found in pipes and in cosmetics, sprays, detergents and solvents. Photo: Shutterstock
The authors said countries such as India and China had higher death tolls, potentially because of 'rapid industrialisation', and 'a boom in plastic production but with fewer manufacturing restrictions than other regions'.
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'Plastics pose a significant risk to increased cardiovascular mortality, disproportionately impacting regions which have developing plastic production sectors,' the team said in its paper, published by eBioMedicine, a publication run by The Lancet, a British medical publisher.
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