A third US home improvement retail chain, Menards, has joined Lowe's and Home Depot in announcing a ban on the sale of vinyl flooring products containing phthalates, by the end of the year.

An NGO report says there are materials containing phthalates in April. After that, the three companies guarantee that they will ban the sale of vinyl flooring with phthalates.

According to the NGO, phthalates have been linked to a range of health effects including asthma, cancer, male reproductive toxicity, birth defects and harm to the brain and immune system, and can migrate out of flooring materials and into the dust and air inside of homes.

There is solid evidence that low molecular weight phthalates may lead to adverse reaction, such as DBP, BBP and DEHP, which are limited by various regulations in the EU market. So EU the plasticiser market is inclined to high molecular weight phthalates, to name a few, DINP, DPHP and DIDP.

However, other agencies such as The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and US Center for Disease Control (CDC) don’t seem to be supportive of retailers’ idea. Instead, they think there is no scientific basis in the statement that may lead to panic among consumer products.