Environmental Phthalate Exposure in Relation to Reproductive Outcomes and Other Health Endpoints in Humans

Abstract

Phthalates are a group of manmade chemicals which may be regarded as heroes having profound application in industries belongs to dieters of 1, 2-benzenedicarboxylic acid (phthalic acid). They are mainly used as plasticizer. Phthalates may be of high and low molecular weight, and have find their existence in the manufacturing of various products that are of daily use to humans and pose threat to non-occupational humans besides of those working in the industries where phthalate based products are manufactured. Phthalates are now widely used and therefore it is difficult to avoid their exposure; thus, its adverse effects are very certain. The literature present revealed that phthalate exposure has made alteration both to females and males, like reproductive alterations: including damaging the sperm quality, semen concentration and sperm DNA, breast cancer in females, AGD, endocrine disruption. The phthalate exposure has been shown to alter the behavior, which is an indication of nervous system damage. Phthalate exposure has been revealed to affect the respiration. Phthalate after exposure has been found to get metabolized in various end points and their detection by various techniques has made an insight towards understanding the mechanism of phthalates toxicity. Phthalates both of low and high molecular weight have found their way to fauna and created a mess with the physiology of animals or humans. Thus, precaution is better, as said prevention is better than cure. The suggestive remedy for phthalate exposure is to make less use of products that contain phthalate material, more importantly during pregnancy and developmental stage of infants. Utmost care has been taken in regard to the literature cited. The data included in this chapter has been taken from those research articles with indexing of Science Citation Index Expanded, Scopus as for authenticity, and also using the Web of Science Database, which provides interactive citation.