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The family of chemicals, called phthalates, includes some that can cause birth defects and disrupt hormonal functions, which control normal cell development and reproduction.

The safety of phthalates (pronounced tha-lates) already had been called into question last year when European countries banned their use in soft baby rattles and teething toys because the chemicals leach out of plastic. U.S. manufacturers voluntarily removed phthalates from those baby items in 1998.

But little was known about the extent to which phthalates were finding their way into human bodies. The chemicals are used in various kinds of plastics, such as polyvinyl chloride, to make products soft and flexible. They also are used in lubricants and cosmetics.

Thus far, two specific phthalates have received the most attention as potential health hazards. The chemical -- diisononyl phthalate, or DINP, and di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP -- were the ones used in baby products and are the phthalates produced in the largest quantities.

Meanwhile, other phthalate compounds continue to be used in a host of items.

Now researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have tested urine samples from people throughout the country and found phthalates at "levels we are concerned about," said John Brock, a chemist at the CDC's National Environmental Health Center who leads the research team.

What worries researchers is that the phthalate levels discovered in people are much higher than levels of other well-studied pollutants routinely detected in people, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which also are known to disrupt hormonal functions.

The findings are surprising. DEHP and DINP, the phthalates that have received the closest attention, were not the ones found at the highest concentrations, according to scientists outside the CDC who are familiar with the research.

In addition, the levels of phthalates detected in people "are higher than we anticipated," Brock said.

Brock said he could not divulge the levels or the specific phthalates detected because the information has not yet been released by the agency or published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Scientists familiar with the CDC's work say people should not panic 

and throw away products that contain or might contain phthalates. However, they add, the report is  phthalates beyond baby products.

"It's going to rewrite how we look at phthalates." said Louis J. Guillette Jr., a zoology professor at the University of Florida who was on a National Academy of Sciences panel that studied hormone-disrupting contaminants, including phthalates. "Phthalates have been something of concern up to this point. Basically, they're going to leap upward in terms of concern."

Because phthalates are so widely used, any call to label or reformulate hundreds of products would meet with stiff resistance.

The American Council on Science and Health, which is supported by grants from corporations and foundations, contends that claims of harm from phthalates are exaggerated.

In its report last year, the National Academy panel said phthalates can cause health problems in humans and wildlife, including birth defects and reproductive disorders. The panel called for research on how such contaminants could be harming human health.

to being answering that question, scientists much determine the levels and types of phthalates in people.

The main way the chemicals enter the body is through food, experts say, though they also can be absorbed through the skin and inhaled. Some of the chemicals can pass from mother to fetus in the womb.

"I can tell you that we're going to be working on phthalates for a long time here at the CDC," Brock said.

Scientists and health experts familiar with phthalate research say they are eager to compare the levels of the chemicals the CDC detected in people with the levels that have caused birth defects and reproduction disorders in laboratory experiments with rats.

In a series of separate studies during the past several years, researchers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and at the Chemical Industry institute of Toxicology have fed high doses of phthalates -- primarily DI-n-butyl phthalate, or DBP -- to female rats and found that the chemical produces permanent defects in the reproductive systems and organs of the rats' male offspring.

"If you take the (CDC's human) exposure data, that these things are occurring at high concentrations, and you look at the experimental data on developing rats, you realize that the doses aren't that far apart." Guillette said.

Earl Gray, an EPA research chemist and phthalate expert, who has done some of the rat experiments, said one of his concerns is that tests that look at a chemical's potential effects on offspring are not required when chemicals are produced and used in industry.

"The types of tests we do, are not routinely done," Gray said