News — A new study led by researchers at New York University has found that daily exposure to certain chemicals used to make plastic household items could be linked to more than 365,000 global deaths from heart disease in 2018 alone.
Journalists working on stories about the study can use the following quotes from or discuss the study's importance with a leading researcher on this topic, , the George G. Rhoads Endowed Legacy Professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health:
“There have been hundreds of studies showing that phthalates are bad for our health, but this elegant analysis makes a particularly compelling case for why we should care about phthalates and plastics pollution. Globally, phthalates are contributing to hundreds of thousands of cardiovascular deaths per year in addition to a myriad of other health impacts, like preterm birth and fertility issues.”
“Plastics are everywhere in our modern environment, and virtually everyone has measurable levels of phthalates- hormone-disrupting, factory-produced chemicals- circulating in their bodies. We have unwittingly participated in a worldwide natural experiment on how phthalates affect our health, and these results should alarm us all.”
“Cardiovascular disease is a leading killer around the world, and while we tend to think of lifestyle factors like diet and exercise as most important, these results show that we cannot discount the role of the environment. These results should be a wake-up call that we need to act urgently to reduce phthalate exposures and plastics consumption globally.”
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