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Bisphenol A (BPA)
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Used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, which are found in many plastic products including food storage containers.
Use of this plasticizer for production of baby bottles was banned in EU and US since 2011 and 2012, respectively.
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Daily human exposure to BPA is through the diet, but air, dust, and water are other possible sources of exposure. Exposure at low levels comes from eating food or drinking water stored in containers that have BPA. Infants and young children may be exposed by hand-to-mouth and direct mouth contact with materials containing BPA. Workers who manufacture products that contain BPA can be exposed. |
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Phthalates
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Used to make plastics more durable and flexible, they are also found in some food packaging, cosmetics, children’s toys, and medical devices. |
Eating and drinking foods that have contacted products containing phthalates. Some exposure can occur from breathing phthalate particles in the air. Phthalate particles in dust might be a greater risk for children than for adults, because they touch many things and then put their hands in their mouths. |
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Dioxins
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Not manufactured or produced intentionally. They are created when other chemicals or products are made (i.e. incineration processes). Being mainly by-products of industrial practices (i.e. herbicide production and paper bleaching) they are also released into the environment during waste burning and wildfires. |
People are exposed primarily by eating food, in particular animal products. They are absorbed and stored in fat tissue and, therefore, accumulate in the food chain. |
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Dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
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PCBs were used to make electrical equipment like transformers, in hydraulic fluids, heat transfer fluids, lubricants, and plasticizers.
Banned in 1979
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Eating or drinking contaminated food, through the breathed air, or by skin contact. All these chemicals remain in the environment even though they are no longer manufactured. They enter the food chain and build up in larger animals. |
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Pesticides
Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (p,p’-DDT)
Dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethylene (p,p’-DDE)
Hexachlorobenzene (HCB)
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Include herbicides for destroying weeds and other unwanted vegetation, insecticides for controlling a wide variety of insects, fungicides used to prevent the growth of molds and mildew, disinfectants for preventing the spread of bacteria, and compounds used to control mice and rats. p,p’-DDT is an insecticide used in agriculture. US banned its use in 1972, but in some countries it is still used to control mosquitoes that spread malaria.
HCB is formed as a byproduct during the manufacture of other chemicals. Widely used as a pesticide until 1965, concerns are due to its persistence in the environment, potential to bioaccumulate, and toxicity to humans and the environment.
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Because of the widespread use of agricultural chemicals in food production, people are exposed to low levels of pesticide residues through their diets. People may also be exposed to pesticides used in a variety of settings including homes, schools, hospitals, and workplaces.
Exposure to p,p’-DDT likely occurs by eating foods, including meat, fish, and dairy products. p,p’-DDTexposure can also occur by breathing or touching contaminated products. p,p’-DDTand p, p’-DDE persist in body (fatty tissues store) and environment.Exposure to HCB is
via inhalation and dermally, through proximity to industries site where it is produced as a byproduct. Exposure can also occur through consuming foods tainted with HCB.
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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)
Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)
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A large, complex, and ever-expanding group of man-made chemicals widely used to make various types of everyday products including clothing, furniture, adhesives, food packaging, heat-resistant non-stick cooking surfaces, and the insulation of electrical wire. |
Concerns arise because they do not break down in the environment, can move through soils and contaminate drinking water sources, bioaccumulate in fish and wildlife. So, they persist in the environment and people are most likely exposed by consuming contaminated water or food, using products made with PFASs, or breathing air containing PFASs.
PFOA and PFOS were manufactured for the longest time, are the most widespread in the environment and the most well-studied. They are no longer made in the US, but they have been replaced with alternative PFAS, such as GenX.
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Brominated flame retardants (BFRs)
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)
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Used in many consumer and industrial products since the 1970s, to decrease the ability of materials to ignite.
PBDEs do not chemically bind with products to which they are added (furniture, electronics, etc.), so they easily release from these products and enter air and dust.
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These chemicals can get into the air, water, and soil during their manufacture; they can leak from products that contain them or escape when the products that contain them break down. People can be exposed to flame retardants through a variety of ways, including diet, consumer products in the home, car, airplane, and workplace.
People can be exposed to PBDEs by eating contaminated foods, especially those with a high fat content. Another source of exposure results from breathing contaminated air or swallowing contaminated dust. Working in industries that make these chemicals or that make, repair, or recycle products containing these chemicals flame retardants can result in exposure.
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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
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Large family of environmental pollutants found in high amounts as air pollutants in megacities. Chemicals that occur naturally in coal, crude oil, and gasoline. They are also produced when coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, and tobacco are burned. High-temperature cooking will form PAHs in meat and in other foods. |
People are usually exposed to mixtures of PAHs. Breathing air contaminated (motor vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, wood smoke, or fumes from asphalt roads) are common ways of exposure. People take in PAHs when they eat grilled or charred meats or foods or foods on which PAHs particles have settled from the air. |
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