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As we age, plastic pollution contributes to cancers, heart diseases, infertility and cognitive decline — and now it’s thwarting our chances at being healthy before our lives even begin.
A new study from NYU Langone Health partially attributed close to 2 million preterm births in 2018 — about 8% of the world’s total that year — to exposure to just one chemical found in common household products like cosmetics, detergents and bug repellents.
Di-2-ethylhexylphthalate (DEHP), one of several chemicals classified as phthalates, is used to make plastic products more flexible.
Phthalates break down into microplastics that travel in food, air and dust and can amass in brains, livers, lungs, placentas and pretty much any human organ or tissue.
The new study, which also linked DEHP to the deaths of 74,000 newborns, is believed to be the first of its kind to quantify the number of worldwide birth complications connected to the toxin.
Preterm birth, or birth before 37 weeks of gestation, is considered a major risk factor for mothers and infants.
The World Health Organization says it’s the leading cause of death among children under 5 and can leave survivors with lifelong learning, visual and hearing disabilities and developmental issues.
Existing analyses of maternal prenatal urine samples, amniotic fluid and cord blood have shown evidence of phthalates, a known endocrine disruptor that can cause inflammation and interfere with placental development, according to the study.
Sara Hyman, an associate research scientist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said that the findings underscore the need to reduce exposure to the chemical — especially in certain vulnerable regions — “to help prevent early births and the health problems that often follow.”
Much of the Global South experiences a “larger share of the health impacts” of phthalates, though they’re widely used all over the world, including in wealthy countries.
The Middle East and South Asia, two areas with expanding plastics industries, account for an estimated 54% of the world’s “illness from preterm birth,” according to the study’s authors.
Africa represented 26%, but with a disproportionate death rate compared to overall premature cases, which the researchers suggest is likely connected to the continent’s higher general death toll from preterm birth.
DEHP is only one of many toxic chemicals found in plastic products. Using their analysis tools, the researchers estimated that diisononyl phthalate (DiNP), a chemical often used as a replacement for DEHP, may have been behind roughly 1.88 million preterm births around the world.
The study’s senior author, Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a professor of pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said going after individual toxins isn’t the way forward — instead, we need sweeping institutional changes to improve health outcomes for babies and adults.
“Our analysis makes clear that regulating phthalates one at a time and swapping in poorly understood replacements is unlikely to solve the larger problem,” Trasande said.
“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.”
Acknowledging that some of the data in the study is incomplete, the researchers emphasized that their numbers are estimates, and it’s possible that “the true impact of DEHP could be up to four times smaller than the main estimate or slightly higher.”
Still, the study’s authors insist that even the most “conservative estimates” indicate a serious global health burden.
While there’s still some debate around just how damaging microplastics are to human health — with several major studies under review — emerging research is linking microplastics and nanoplastics to a wide range of health issues, from diabetes to liver injury.
Certain probiotics, including fermented foods like kimchi, show promise of protecting the gut from microplastic toxins. But, ultimately, the door into this field of research has barely been cracked.
As for the effects of microplastics on preterm births, much more research is needed not only to confirm the correlation but also to continue moving toward solutions.
