Indoor environment factor · measured in µg/g in dust; ng/m³ in air
Phthalates
Also: DEHP, DBP, plasticisers
A family of plasticisers that make PVC flooring, cables, shower curtains and many consumer products flexible. They are semi-volatile: they migrate slowly into air and house dust, where they are inhaled and ingested, and several are endocrine disruptors.
Why it matters indoors
Phthalates are not chemically bound to the plastics they soften, so they leave continuously over the life of the product. Indoors they end up mainly in settled dust and on surfaces, which makes small children — who crawl and put hands in mouths — the most exposed group.
Where they come from indoors
PVC flooring and wall coverings, vinyl furniture and toys, cables, shower curtains, cosmetics and fragranced products, food packaging.
Health effects
Associations with asthma and allergic symptoms in children, and with effects on reproductive development, are reported in epidemiological studies; the endocrine-disrupting mechanism is established in toxicology.
Exposure limits
No indoor air guideline exists. The European Union restricts four phthalates (DEHP, DBP, BBP, DIBP) in toys, childcare articles and most consumer products under REACH Annex XVII, and classifies them as reproductive toxicants.
How they are measured
Laboratory analysis of dust samples or air collected on sorbent; not measurable with consumer sensors.
What the studies report
| Linked to | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air filtration and air purifiers | difference 62 | — · office | before-and-after study in an occupied office building in Providence, Rhode Island: semi-volatile organic compounds and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances measured in 17 rooms before and during the deployment of Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, with sound levels measured with the boxes running and off | F-1475 Does Using Corsi−Rosenthal Boxes to Mitigate COVID-19 Transm… (2023) | machine |
| — | median 0.52 | — · home | phthalate exposure and risk assessment in Californian homes: phthalates measured in indoor air and in floor dust with exposure estimated for children by route | F-1468 Phthalate exposure and risk assessment in California child c… (2014) | machine |
| — | median 0.21 | — · home | phthalate exposure and risk assessment in Californian homes: phthalates measured in indoor air and in floor dust with exposure estimated for children by route | F-1469 Phthalate exposure and risk assessment in California child c… (2014) | machine |
| — | median 0.10 | — · home | phthalate exposure and risk assessment in Californian homes: phthalates measured in indoor air and in floor dust with exposure estimated for children by route | F-1470 Phthalate exposure and risk assessment in California child c… (2014) | machine |
| — | median 0.01 | — · home | phthalate exposure and risk assessment in Californian homes: phthalates measured in indoor air and in floor dust with exposure estimated for children by route | F-1471 Phthalate exposure and risk assessment in California child c… (2014) | machine |
| — | mean 811 | — · workshop | health risk assessment in shoe-making workshops: phthalate esters measured in the indoor total suspended particles and in the settled dust of five workshops, with the carcinogenic risk estimated | F-1472 An integration approach for health risk assessment and prior… (2026) | machine |
| — | other 14 | — · home | calibration study of two passive air samplers for semi-volatile organic compounds: phthalates, brominated flame retardants and novel flame retardants measured in one room of homes with sheltered and partly sheltered samplers | F-1473 Saini Calibration of two passive air samplers for monitoring phtha… (2015) | machine |
| — | mean 1268 | — · workplace (industrial section) | determination of dialkyl phthalate esters in the indoor air of the industrial and the administrative sections of a workplace | F-1474 Sargazi Determination of dialkyl phthalate esters in indoor air of P… (2024) | machine |
| — | mean 334 | — | study of inhalable microplastics and plastic additives in indoor air: the PM10 fraction sampled indoors and analysed by mass spectrometry for polymer types and for plastic additives | F-1477 Rindelaub Inhalable microplastics and plastic additives in the indoor … (2025) | machine |
Each row is one Finding — a sentence as printed in one study, recorded with its page in the Coridum Knowledge Base. Follow the Finding number for the exact wording and the citation. Checked says who verified the row: machine means every automatic check passed and the surrounding text was read; person means someone read the sentence in the document. Rows are re-checked by a person over time. The studies are curated in the Coridum Knowledge Base; the reading of them together is a Claim, shown separately.
Identifiers
- MeSH
- D010795
In the literature
- Phthalate and phthalate replacement concentrations in relationship to adiposity in a multi-racial cohort of children ✉ (2024). doi:10.1038/s41366-024-01548-w CKB 0595
- Indoor phthalate exposure and contributions to total intake among pregnant women in the SELMA study (2021). Indoor air. doi:10.1111/ina.12813 CKB 0917
- Phthalate Concentration Estimation and Exposure Assessment and Health Risk Assessment in Indoor Organic Film (2023). Indoor Air. doi:10.1155/2023/5491647 CKB 0933
Studies in the Coridum Knowledge Base in which this term is used. The definition follows standard usage in WHO, ISO and textbook sources; it is not quoted from these papers.
CKB = document number in the Coridum Knowledge Base, our curated library of peer-reviewed studies. Follow the DOI for the original paper.
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Phthalates. Coridum Knowledge G-0050, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0050/