Reply #17: Phthalates are used in lots of products

[Overseas]

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Phthalates are used in a large variety of products, from enteric coatings of pharmaceutical pills to viscosity control agents, gelling agents, film formers, stabilizers, dispersants, lubricants, binders, emulsifying agents, and suspending agents. End applications include adhesives and glues, agricultural adjuvants, building materials, personal care products, detergents and surfactants, plastic objects, paints, printing inks and coatings, pharmaceuticals, food products and textiles.

Phthalates are also frequently used in soft plastic fishing lures, nail polish, adhesives, caulk, paint pigments, and sex toys made of so-called "jelly rubber." Phthalates are used in a variety of household applications (shower curtains, adhesives, perfume), modern electronics and medical applications such as catheters. The most widely-used phthalates are the di-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP), the diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) and the diisononyl phthalate (DINP). DEHP is the dominant plasticizer used in PVC, due to its low cost. Benzylbutylphthalate (BBzP) is used in the manufacture of foamed PVC, which is mostly used as a flooring material. Phthalates with small R and R' groups are used as solvents in perfumes and pesticides.

As of 2004, manufacturers produced about 363 thousand metric tonnes (800 million pounds or 400 000 short tons) of phthalates each year.