Abstract: As a kind of synthetcal plastcizer, phthalates (PAEs) are widely used in plastc processing, food packaging, cosmetics producing, etc. PAEs can escape from various kinds of plastic products into foods, and migrate into the body through diet, drinking water, skin contact, and breathing. As a class of common environmental endocrine disruptors, epidemiological and toxicological evidences have suggested their adverse effects on human health including reproductve developmental toxicity, insulin resistance, obesity, abnormalites in neurobehavioral development, asthma, allergic diseases, and even tumors of endocrine system. The toxic effects of PAEs on human health are relatvely complex. By inhibitng the generaton of testosterone and damaging the growth and functon of follicles, PAEs affect both male and female reproductve systems; by affecting the expressions of neurons and related receptor genes, PAEs also have adverse effects on neural development; through certain epigenetic changes, PAEs promote diabetes and obesity. For this reason, PAEs exposure routes, effects on human health, and related mechanism were reviewed in this artcle, aiming to provide reference for controlling the polluton and adverse effects of PAEs on human health.