Phthalates are some of the . However, it has only been in the last decade or so that agencies like the have warned against the and the harm they cause to human development and hormone function. And now, a new study is warning women to be cognizant of their exposure to the chemical as phthalates have been linked to altering a baby's cognitive outcomes.

According to researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, when pregnant women are exposed to higher levels of phthalates, their babies show slower cognitive function than those who were exposed to lesser amounts. Specifically, male babies appear to be affected more than female.

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The study, published in the journal, , is part of the Illinois Kids Development Study, which "tracks the effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals on children's physical and behavioral development from birth to middle childhood," according to .

To determine how or if the cognitive function of babies is affected by phthalates, researchers collected urine samples of the pregnant women in their study. They then tested for three of the most common phthalates found in consumer products.

Once the women's babies were seven-and-a-half months old, they tested the babies' cognitive function. This was done by showing them familiar and unfamiliar images.

The way that the test works, according to , is through a process call dishabituation. This means that babies who have normal cognitive function will look longer at a new object or picture in front of them and away from one that they have seen repeatedly. When cognitive function is not developing properly, this will not occur.

According to the , 244 babies had their cognitive function tested. The babies were split into two groups and were each shown a picture of a face from either Set One or Set Two for them to get familiarized with. Once that occurred, a new face was shown to the babies from the opposite group, which then became the unfamiliar picture.

To determine what the babies were looking at, an infrared eye tracker was used. This would show how quickly the recognized the familiar picture versus the new one.

What researchers found was that the women who were exposed to the highest levels of phthalates had babies who were slower in their response to the new pictures shown and a shorter . They further found that baby boys were affected more by phthalate exposure than baby girls, especially if exposed to those that "interfere with androgenic hormones," according to .

The puzzling thing to researchers, according to , was that while phthalate-exposed babies were slower in the uptake of new information than those who were not exposed, the particular pictures they were shown first also determined the response time to receiving new information. Those who were shown the pictures in Set Two first had a quicker response than those who were shown Set One first.

While more research is needed to determine why each type of phthalate affects certain babies' cognitive function differently, what the study shows is that exposure to the chemical affects children much younger than previously thought. As such, it may be necessary to have therapy in place at an early age to help overcome the damage done by phthalate exposure in utero.

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