EPA to Regulate Uses of Five Phthalates

EPA intends to develop rules to address “unreasonable risks to workers and the environment” from five phthalates: butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP), diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP). Final risk evaluations for these phthalates were published on Dec. 31. All but one of the final risk evaluations—the one for DIBP—identified fewer conditions of use as contributing to unreasonable risks to workers than did the draft risk evaluations for the chemicals that were published earlier in 2025. As in the draft versions, the agency’s final risk determinations regarding the phthalate uses that present unreasonable risks to workers do not reflect the use of personal protective equipment, which EPA says could reduce exposures and mitigate risk. But PPE is among the approaches the agency says it will evaluate as it works to regulate these chemicals.

“The agency will conduct extensive consultation with workers, businesses, labor groups, and communities to develop targeted, practical protections that ensure worker safety and environmental protection,” an EPA news release states. “Personal protective equipment, engineering controls, and alternative approaches will be carefully evaluated to create effective, implementable solutions that protect those most at risk.”

Health concerns related to exposure to phthalates include hormone deficiencies and endocrine disruption. All five of the phthalates affected by EPA’s actions are widely used, mostly as plasticizers. According to the agency, most of the exposures that present unreasonable risks for workers occur during spray applications and manufacturing processes.

Links to EPA’s risk evaluations can be found near the bottom of its webpage on phthalates. Further information about EPA’s upcoming regulatory actions is available in the agency’s news release.