Alarm raised as common plastic chemical fuels surge in premature births and newborn deaths
Study findings show that di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, a softening agent used in more than 200 countries in products, contributed to 74,000 newborn deaths.
What you need to know:
- Study links common plastic chemical exposure to millions of premature births and thousands of newborn deaths worldwide.
- Widely used phthalates in packaging and cosmetics may silently harm pregnancies and worsen global neonatal outcomes.
A chemical found in everyday plastics may be responsible for roughly one in every 12 premature births worldwide, a new study has revealed.
Published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, the study focused on di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), a softening agent used in more than 200 countries in products ranging from food packaging and PVC pipes to cosmetics, detergents, insect repellents and personal care products.
The findings showed that DEHP exposure may have contributed to nearly 1.97 million preterm births in 2018 alone, more than eight per cent of the global total, as well as 74,000 newborn deaths.
Preterm birth, defined as delivery before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is a leading cause of infant death globally and is associated with lifelong developmental, neurological, and respiratory conditions. The World Health Organization estimates that complications from preterm birth are the leading cause of death among under-fives worldwide.
Phthalates are among the most widely used chemical additives on Earth. They enter the body silently through ingested food, inhaled air and household dust and have previously been linked to cancer, heart disease, infertility and endocrine disruption.
This study is among the first to translate exposure into a global toll on birth outcomes. The researchers estimated that, in total, DEHP exposure contributed to 1.2 million years lived with disability, a measure that accounts for the years spent living with illness or injury arising from premature birth.
Read: Study finds every tested plastic toy contains chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive disorders
The Middle East and South Asia accounted for 54 per cent of illnesses linked to DEHP-related preterm birth, as these are regions where the plastics industry is expanding fastest and where levels of plastic waste disposal are highest. Africa contributed 26 per cent to the global burden.
The continent carries a disproportionately high share of deaths relative to its preterm birth numbers. In Kenya, preterm birth is already one of the main causes of neonatal death, with the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey consistently recording high neonatal mortality rates despite improvements in maternal care.
Meanwhile, Kenya's food retail sector has seen a rapid expansion of cheap plastic packaging, from loose grain sold in recycled PVC bags to processed foods wrapped in soft plastics. In recent years, regulators in Europe and North America have moved to restrict DEHP, particularly in products intended for children.
However, the study's most unsettling finding is that the leading replacement chemical, diisononyl phthalate (DiNP), which has been increasingly substituted for DEHP in plastics manufacturing, appears to be no safer.
When the researchers applied the same methodology to DiNP, they discovered that it may have contributed to around 1.88 million preterm births in one year, a figure almost identical to that of the chemical it was intended to replace.
“Our analysis makes clear that regulating phthalates one at a time and swapping in poorly understood replacements is unlikely to solve the larger problem,” said Dr Leonardo Trasande, the study's senior author. “We are playing a dangerous game of Whac-A-Mole with hazardous chemicals, and these findings highlight the urgent need for stronger, class-wide oversight of plastic additives to avoid repeating the same mistakes.”
