American researchers say that children exposed to diethyl phthalate (DEP) and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP) – phthalate chemicals commonly found in personal care and plastic products – have elevated risk of asthma-related airway inflammation.

The study, which was conducted by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health in New York, studied children between the ages of 5-9. Higher levels of both phthalates were associated with higher levels of nitric oxide in exhaled breath, a biological marker of airway inflammation.

The association between BBzP exposure and airway inflammation was especially strong among children who had recently reported wheeze, a common symptom of asthma. Results were recently published online in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

US private equity firm Carlyle Group has paid US$4.9 billion to acquire DuPont Performance Coatings.

German chemicals firm BASF has set up a new research laboratory for thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) in the US.

German automotive products supplier Mann + Hummel GmbH is expanding in China by acquiring Bengbu Haoye, a manufacturer of filters for the automotive industry.

US-based Emerald Kalama Chemical is building a facility to manufacture environmentally friendly materials in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, at the plant it acquired from DSM in 2010.

Mitsui Chemicals of Tokyo has established a company for functional polymeric materials in Shanghai’s Jinshan district.

Five years after Huntsman Polyurethanes teamed up with renewable resource-based polyol producer Alberdingk Boley to co-develop PU solutions for the coatings market.

Solvay Advanced Polymers is upping capacity for its Spire polyetheretherketone (PAEK) by 70% at its Panoli, India, plant.

In lieu of a growing lighter vehicles trend, Lanxess opens its first US$20 million worth production plant for high-tech plastics plant in Gasronia in the U.S. state of North Carolina, to help meet the increasing demand for premium, lightweight plastics.