More than 16,000 chemicals are used to produce plastics — and some are silently killing us.

Particularly worrisome is di-2-ethylhexylphthalate, or DEHP, a chemical used to soften plastic products. Colorless and nearly odorless, DEHP is found in everything from shower curtains and shoes to medical tubing and has long been linked to health harms like cancer.

New research indicates the class of chemicals is also causing deaths due to heart disease, particularly in developing countries. According to a peer-reviewed study published last week in The Lancet eBioMedicine, nearly 350,000 people died in 2018 from exposure to DEHP. The research represents the first global survey of cardiovascular mortality from the chemicals and attributes DEHP exposure from plastics to more than 13 percent of all deaths from heart disease among adults aged 55 to 64.

One of the researchers’ most striking findings was a strong geographic disparity in DEHP exposure and related mortality rates. Residents of the Middle East and South Asia, for example, are exposed to up to six times more DEHP than their European counterparts. A greater share of these regions’ cardiovascular deaths was also attributable to the chemicals. Researchers found that in 2018, 10 percent of heart disease-related deaths in the United States and 8 percent in Europe were attributable to DEHP exposure. That figure was as high as 17 percent in the Middle East and South Asia and more than 13 percent in East Asia and the Pacific.