Hidden Hazards - An I-Team 8 Special Investigation

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Part 1: Phthalates Are Harmful To Our Health, But What Are They?

There are new concerns about chemicals hidden in consumer products. These chemicals have the potential to cause serious health problems and several countries have banned them, but the U.S. has not.

Nearly every American is exposed to these chemicals. It is especially troubling for millions of women of child-bearing age and their children. Phthalates are everywhere and they are harmful to our health. So why have most of us never heard of them?

Phthalates are a group of chemicals that make plastics flexible, lotions and lipsticks creamy and dollies' skin feel soft and real.

"It's scary, really scary. Her playroom's full of them, I'm sure," said mother Annie Fisher.

One kind of phthalate is known to cause cancer, kidney and liver damage and reproductive problems. Others interfere with hormones and can cause obesity, diabetes, allergies and asthma.

But it seems impossible to avoid phthalates. They are in hairspray, shampoo and nail polish. They are in our homes and can leach out from vinyl floors, PVC pipes, even shower curtains and clear plastic wrap when used in the microwave and from plastic water bottles left in a hot car.

Phthalates are even in children's toys. I-Team 8 wanted to find out which toys, so we boxed up a variety of toys and other children's products made of PVC plastic and sent it off for testing. An IUPUI chemistry professor found the cancer-causing phthalate in a vinyl raincoat and a fashion doll.

He found other phthalates in a Happy Meal and a vinyl photo album. Tests by others have found phthalates in teething rings, baby dolls and rubber duckies. Babies put toys in their mouths, suck and chew on them and that causes the phthalates to leach out of the toy and into the baby.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission asked companies, including Mattel and Playskool, to voluntarily remove phthalates from teethers, bath toys and squeeze toys. But even one year later, toy companies chose not to comply, removing phthalates only from teethers.

"Sounds like somebody needs to lobby Congress," Fisher said.

I-Team 8 took the issue to Washington to the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government reform, the top investigator in Congress. Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman of California plans to reintroduce the Kids Safety Chemical Act, which died in the last Congress.

"This law would try to recognize that our children are more vulnerable to chemicals that can cause harm, toxic chemicals," said Waxman.

Waxman said the "Toxic Substances Act" already on the books is not working. He wants chemicals with the greatest potential for harm tested for safety before they end up in children's products. But there is resistance to that.

"The chemical industry would like less regulation," Waxman said.

"If the risk is real, then I'd say we need to get on the "ban wagon," said mother Julia Blank.

Dr. Anila Jacob is a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group in Washington.

"We know through our testing of babies, adults, that people carry hundreds of chemicals in them. And we think that personal care products are a major source of these chemicals," Jacob said.

Swapan Ghosh, a cancer researcher at Indiana State University, has been studying phthalates for more than 20 years.

"Phthalates are actually a pretty reactive and pretty toxic substance," he said.

His most recent research on mice finds a link between phthalates and Lupus and it is getting national attention from Johns Hopkins and the FDA. When mice predisposed toward Lupus were injected with phthalates, more of them got Lupus, got it sooner and died sooner.

Women wear makeup and use a range of beauty products every day. Women also are five times more likely than men to get Lupus. While the link between phthalates and Lupus is not yet definitive, it is yet another indication of potential harm.

The Toy Industry Association insists phthalates are safe and so does the chemical industry. Both dismiss animal studies that link phthalates with health problems.

"If compounds cause disease in mice and rats, I mean, sometimes that can translate over into humans. Sometimes it doesn't. But, at the same time, do you want to take the chance?" asked mother Claire O'Neal.

Twenty-five countries in the European Union ban  the most harmful phthalates. If other nations have banned the chemicals, why not the United States?

Part 2: Bisphenol A is in Many Canned Foods, But What Is It?

INDIANAPOLIS - Brand new studies find a harmful chemical in some of your favorite canned foods and in clear plastic baby bottles. Nearly every American is exposed to bisphenol A also called BPA. The hidden hazard leaches from the plastic lining of metal food and drink cans and from plastic baby bottles into the food and the infant formula.

An environmental health watchdog says many canned foods contain BPA, but it is not listed as an ingredient. That is particularly troubling when the FDA estimates that canned foods comprise 17 percent of our diet. And families with young children and more on the way, rely on the convenience of canned food.

BPA also is found in clear plastic baby bottles and sippy cups. The chemical is more likely to leach into the formula when the bottle is heated in the microwave. That is why in March, a California attorney filed a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the five leading manufacturers: Gerber, Evenflo, Avent, Playtex and Dr. Brown's.

BPA is linked to breast and prostate cancer, to infertility and recurrent miscarriages and a wide range of birth defects. But while most chemicals are considered harmful at high doses, studies show that BPA is toxic at low doses.

Dr. Anila Jacob is a scientist with the Environmental Working Group.

"As a physician, I was seeing more and more chronic disease among my patients and I was concerned about the role of environmental exposures," said Jacob.

The Environmental Working Group tested nearly 100 cans of food including canned fruits and vegetables, tuna and even infant formula and found BPA in more than half the cans. Of all foods tested, chicken soup, ravioli and infant formula had the highest BPA levels.

Just one to three servings of foods with these concentrations expose a woman or child to BPA levels that harmed lab animals. In some cases a single serving exposed a woman or infant to BPA levels more than 200 times what the government says is safe.

"You just really have to be careful," Jacob said.

"It's unbelievable to think that, you know, in 10 or 20 years it's going to affect our families," said mother Annie Fisher.

A spokesman from Dow Chemical Company, which manufactures plastics with BPA, responded to I-Team 8:  "A consumer would have to eat or drink more than 500 pounds of food and beverages . . . Each and every day of their lives to exceed the reference dose for BPA."

But the government's safety standard is already 25 times the dose that is known to cause birth defects in lab studies. The FDA, which is responsible for making sure food packaging chemicals are safe, does not restrict BPA levels in food.

I-Team 8 took the issue to Washington. The EPA would not talk about it on the record and the FDA refused to return our phone calls. And the Consumer Product Safety Commission said, "There's nothing new."

"At the rate they're going, it's going to be into the next century before we get the job done," said Rep. Henry Waxman, (D) California.

Waxman is among those leading the charge to pass the Kid Safety Chemical Act.

"This law would try to recognize that our children are more vulnerable to chemicals that can cause harm. Toxic chemicals," he said.

"There's plenty to worry about without worrying about that," said mother Michelle Carmichael.

The amount of BPA leaching into food exceeds pollutants and pesticides. The Environmental Working Group refused to name particular foods and brands, instead they cited widespread exposure to BPA found in 95 percent of people tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.