Although these chemicals have been widely used since the 1960s it has been only in the past five or so years that scientists have had tests sensitive enough to mesure the extremely low doses present in the environment and our bodies. And they have found phthalates and PFOA are ubiquitous.

In random sampling of participants in a national health survey, the CDC has found trace amounts of phthalates in a urine tested. In January, the Environmental Protection Agency reported biomonitoring studies had trace amounts of PFOA in their bloodstream.

"Certainly, we're concerned about what's happening to adults, but we're especially concerned about development exposure of the fetus and young child," Retha Newbold, a development endocrinoogist at National Institute of Environmental Health sciences, told the Endocrine Society.

"Protective mechanisms that are available to the adult, such as DNA repair, the immune system, detoxification enzymes, liver metabolism and the blood / brain barrier, are not fully functional in the fetus or newborn,:"

New bold says. "Exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals during critical states of development may have permanent consequences, some of which may not be expressed or detected until later in life."

But chemical producers say researchers aren't coming up with "smoking gun," in the words of Sarah Brozena, assistant general counsel to the American Chemistry Council, an industry group.

"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry did this pretty comprehensive review and decided there was no evidence of humans being adversely impacted by environmental exposures to endocrine active substances," she says.