Publication date: May 2020
What is already known about this subject:
- There is increasing evidence that some man-made chemicals present in the environment can disrupt the hormone balance in exposed humans.
- Exposure during fetal life to, for example, phthalates has been linked to adverse effects on testicular and ovarian development, thyroid hormones and growth after birth.
- Given the concern about effects on reproductive health, the use of certain phthalates has been restricted. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore temporal and geographical trends in prenatal exposure to phthalates.
What this study adds
- Blood samples collected from pregnant women in the Raine Study Gen1 between 1989 and 1991 were used for phthalate measurements. These data were compared to phthalate measurements in blood and urine from pregnant Danish women.
- We found significant differences in phthalate levels between the women in the three studies with generally higher concentrations in the Australian women followed by the women in the early Danish study. Levels in pregnant women in the older Danish study were higher than in women in the recent Danish study.
- Differences between the women in the two Danish studies are in agreement with restrictions on phthalate use in the EU from around 1999, but differences in phthalate exposure across the three studies are not explained by changes in legislation alone. Non-regulated changes in the use and/or production of phthalate containing products, probably due to increased awareness, also seem to play a role.