Toxic Nation | Pollution. It's In You.

Photo courtesy of www.cbc.ca

A recent University of Rochester study of women showed that male children exposed to high doses of two phthalates (DEHP and DBP) in the womb were less likely to have “male-typical behaviour”.

Phthalates are a group of man-made chemicals. Canada recently proposed limiting the use of six phthalates in soft vinyl children's toys, but they remain widely found in many consumer products used by pregnant women, including cosmetics, fragrances, and PVC (e.g., shower curtains, vinyl flooring).

Phthalates have previously been shown to cause birth defects of male reproductive organs.

See Toxins in toiletries harming unborn kids in the Toronto Star.

See the study in the International Journal of Andrology.