Occupational exposure to phthalates. Urinary biomonitoring

Phthalates are economically important products with the most used for the tonnage implemented annually in the European Union can exceed 500,000 tons. They are used as plasticizers for plastics to make them more flexible, mainly in the polyvinyl chloride industry (PVC), and found in many articles or consumer products. When phthalates are incorporated in PVC (30 to 50% by weight), they are not covalently bound to the plastic matrix promoting, by migration, environmental and human contamination. While some phthalates are toxic to reproduction, specifically the health effects related to endocrine disruption are increasingly highlighted for these substances. The evaluations of European and American risk show a lack of exposure to phthalates in the workplace data. Further to this, the INRS has committed since 2000, several actions to learn about phthalates and evaluate occupational exposure levels in France. Biomonitoring, based on the determination of their urinary metabolites is the tool of choice to evaluate occupational exposure to phthalates. The results of three field studies will be presented: the first study will involve phthalate, di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), classified as toxic for reproduction category 1B according to the European Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and suspected to be an endocrine disrupter. The impregnation levels of 62 potentially exposed workers and 39 controls from six French companies will be presented. A follow-up on a work week, with collection of pre- and post-shift urinary samples allowed analysis of 803 urine samples. The second study will also involve DEHP and will provide dermal impregnating data linked to the use of vinyl gloves in the hospital sector (four healthcare facilities, 50 holders of gloves and 14 controls followed, 296 urine samples collected) and the third study will concern the di-isononyl (DINP), one of DEHP substitutes currently mainly used in the PVC industry. Three companies participated in the study and 575 start and end urine station belonging to 74 employees, including 47 potentially exposed were collected over a workweek.