A team of researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign led by Rita Strakovsky, an assistant professor in the MSU Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, has been awarded a five-year $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. They will be studying the long-term effects of phthalate exposure on mothers four to seven years after giving birth.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, phthalates are a class of chemicals that increase the durability and flexibility of many common plastic products, including food packaging materials. Phthalates are also used in personal care products as scent and color stabilizers. In previous studies, phthalates have been shown to disrupt endocrine system function, which is responsible for the production of hormones that regulate growth, development, metabolism and several other important physiological processes.
Read the full story on the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources website.