America News Agency

The lawsuit marks the latest step in an eight-year battle where advocates have pressed the FDA to ban these chemicals in food packaging, but the agency has sided with the industry, ignoring the calls.

Since 2016, the FDA has unlawfully ignored or denied requests to revoke a 40-year-old authorization for chemicals based on outdated science.

Health groups have called the FDA's refusal to restrict the chemicals "unethical."

Katherine O’Brien, an attorney with Earthjustice and one of the lead advocates in the lawsuit, stated: “The FDA continues to greenlight the use of phthalates contaminating our food, knowingly putting millions of Americans at risk of serious health problems. This decision defies decades of scientific research and the agency’s core mission to keep the food supply safe.”

Phthalates are a class of about 30 chemicals used as plasticizers in plastic containers, kitchen utensils, and food preparation materials. Researchers have found them in most food samples tested in recent years, linking even very low levels of exposure to birth defects and preterm births.

For fetuses and children, these chemicals are thought to cause developmental harm, particularly to the reproductive system and brain, increasing risks of low IQ in children, as well as genital defects and infertility in boys.

Phthalates are also particularly dangerous because they mimic hormones in the human body.