Is it true that phthalate plasticizers, used in soft PVC, cause cancer?
No. Phthalates are not classified as human carcinogens by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and there is no evidence to suggest that phthalates can cause cancer in human beings. Since 1980 a large number of investigations have shown that feeding high levels (many thousand times greater than foreseeable exposure) of phthalates and other chemicals to rodents over their lifetime causes a large increase in microbodies in the liver called peroxisomes. This ‘peroxisome proliferation’ leads to the formation of liver tumours. However, when these chemicals are given to non-rodent species such as marmosets and monkeys (primates considered to be metabolically closer to humans), such peroxisome proliferation and liver damage is not seen. It is now generally accepted that phthalates are one of a number of substances which can cause liver tumours in rodents by a mechanism which does not occur in humans. On the basis of these differences in species response, it was concluded some years ago that pht
