To: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration

TAKE ACTION: Get these hormone-disrupting chemicals out of our food!

I am deeply concerned that toxic chemicals called phthalates are allowed to be used as food additives.

Exposure to this class of chemicals during pregnancy is linked to serious impairments to children's brains and to the reproductive systems of boys. Exposures during childhood are associated with developmental delays and serious learning disabilities. We must do a better job of protecting our children from chemicals. I urge the FDA to stop allowing toxic phthalates to be used as food additives. The brain development and reproductive capacity of a generation of children are on the line.

Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.

Why is this important?

No matter how careful you are about what you eat, your food could be loaded with toxic chemicals called phthalates.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering a petition, filed by Earthjustice and several partner organizations, asking the agency to withdraw its approval of all 30 phthalates currently allowed as food additives. Please tell the FDA that phthalates don’t belong in our food.

Phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are a class of hormone-disrupting chemicals that have been linked to severe genital birth defects in baby boys and to other reproductive health problems. They’re also linked to deficits in child IQ, developmental delays, and other learning disabilities.

It’s hard to avoid phthalates because they’re used in many of the materials that come into contact with our food—from the plastic gloves that food workers wear to plastic equipment used in processing food to the plastic packaging our food is sold in. Phthalates leach out of these materials and seep into our food, ending up in all of our bodies.

Despite powerful scientific evidence of the harmful health effects of these chemicals, the FDA still allows the use of 30 different toxic phthalates as “food additives,” meaning that they can be used in food-handling equipment and food packaging.

Please tell the FDA to keep toxic phthalates out of our food!