Final Risk Evaluations Available for Two Plasticizers Used in PVC

EPA recently released final risk evaluations for the chemicals diisononyl phthalate (DINP) and diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP). Both DINP and DIDP are plasticizers used to make flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC). They are also used to make building and construction materials, car parts, adhesives, sealants, paints, coatings, and electrical and electronic products.

EPA found that spray application of adhesives, sealants, paints, and coatings that contain DINP presents an “unreasonable risk of injury to human health” for unprotected workers. According to the agency, DINP exposure can result in developmental toxicity, harm to the liver, and, at high concentrations, cancer. “Phthalate syndrome,” the name given to a range of effects that harm the male reproductive system, is also associated with DINP exposure. DINP was one of six phthalates included in a draft cumulative risk analysis that EPA released in January 2024.

For DIDP, the main concern is for unprotected female workers of reproductive age who are exposed through application of spray adhesives, sealants, paints, and coatings as well as lacquers, stains, varnishes, and floor finishers. The final risk evaluation for DIDP includes several changes from a draft released in May 2024. In the draft evaluation, EPA identified only one “condition of use,” or COU, that significantly contributed to human health risk, but there are six such COUs in the final evaluation. These additions stemmed from the agency’s determination, after the draft version was released, that multiple factors contribute to high worker inhalation exposures, including spray duration, the concentration of DIDP in the product, spray equipment, and spray booth configuration. The draft evaluation based its findings only on high-pressure spray application.

More information about the DINP risk evaluation is available from the EPA website. To learn more about the DIDP risk evaluation, visit the Federal Register.