Phtalates are present in many plastics as softener and thus ubiquitarily distributed. They have been regarded as endocrine disruptors that means they will bind to for example the estrogen receptor and trigger that molecule to start gene activation. That has been shown for quite some time.

What is new in the paper of Rajesh and Balasubramanian in the Journal of Endocrinology is the detail of the analysis: They have looked for glucose in di(ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) treated mothers and their pubs and found elevated glucose, as well as glucose and insulin tolerance. The analysis went to the insuline receptor, the insulin receptor substrate, to the glucose transporter, to all the molecules thought involved in the regulation of insulin and glucose. But not the proteins alone, the RNAs were measured, even the methylation of the DNA was estimated. And the message is very clear: with DEHP exposure in utero you will encounter a disturbed metabolism throughout life.

While this is true for rats I might be another situation in humans, but would you risk your kids health on the assumption that man is not a rat?

Nicely done! Worth reading!