Phthalates cause obesity?

It seems that Phthalates have now been accused of another evil: They make kids fat!  At least that’s what a new study says. Don’t believe me? Check out a New York Times article entitled: “Child Obesity Is Linked to Chemicals in Plastics.”

It seems that researchers at Mt. Sinai Hospital have done a long term health study on girls living in East Harlem. Approximately 400 girls age 9-11 were targets of the study.

Having been around long enough, I have learned to read all the way through articles like this and sure enough, way down near the end I found this statement: “Of course, at this stage, researchers cannot say if the exposure actually causes obesity, simply that it seems to be linked. ‘Right now it’s a correlation; we don’t know if it’s cause and effect or an accidental finding,”

Phthalates may or may not be the cause of any host of terrible things. It would be helpful, however, if articles like this were more balanced. There is enough fear out there all ready. We don’t need any more.