"Is the effect really a significant effect?" Lipshultz said. "The difference is in millimeters. The problem is that no one has ever done this before. It is interesting and suggestive, but until larger populations are studied, it does not prove that phthalates are causing these effects in male genitalia." The boys were not all the same age, varying from 3 to 26 months, and even though the researchers tried to correct for that, it could have made the comparisons of genitalia imprecise, said Dr. Rebecca Z. Sokol, a professor of gynecology and medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
Advertisement
Study Finds Genital Abnormalities in Boys
Widely used industrial compounds, called phthalates, are linked by researchers to changes in the reproductive organs of male infants.
The Nation
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday May 28, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 54 words Type of Material: Correction
Genital abnormalities -- An article in Friday's Section A about a study linking phthalates, compounds used in plastics and cosmetics, with genital abnormalities in boys stated that Europe had prohibited using phthalates in cosmetics. Europe has banned two major types of the compounds in cosmetics, but other phthalates are still legal in the products.
Advertisement
"The importance [of this study] is there is an anatomic abnormality which might be associated with in utero exposure to phthalates.... But there are a lot of unanswered questions in this study," Sokol said.
The Food and Drug Administration has said there is no evidence phthalates are unsafe. Manufacturers are not required to notify consumers when phthalates are in their products, and their use is unregulated in the United States. Europe, however, has banned them in baby toys and cosmetics.
The California Senate is expected next week to hear a bill that would require cosmetics manufacturers to disclose to state health officials whether their product contained carcinogens or reproductive toxins. Another bill to ban phthalates and another compound called bisphenol A in children's products is pending in the Assembly's Appropriations Committee.
Mao said she feared overreaction by the public in seeking a ban on phthalates. "What we need to have is more data," she said. "I don't think we should remove these products yet. Some things we use to substitute for them may be worse."
