In 1999, ACSH assembled a Blue Ribbon Panel of physicians and scientists, chaired by former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. The panel, after a thorough review of the literature, gave two members of the family of chemicals known as phthalates a clean bill of health. Phthalates (pronounced thal-ates) are used to soften plastics, which would otherwise be hard and brittle. REad the full article in ACSH Dispatch.