Don’t take our word for it. Here’s every fact on this site, with its evidence grade, its caveats, and a link to the source, so you can check us.
We start you on the strong ones: findings that have been replicated or come from one large, well-controlled study. Moderate and weak facts are here too, labeled for what they are. Use “Link to this fact” to share a single card.
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Fragrance contact allergy is not rare in children: in a study of 1200 Danish school children aged 12-16, 1.6% of girls and 2.1% of boys tested positive to the fragrance mix, and one in three of them already had clinical symptoms.
Moderate evidence: Single study (secondary citation); the primary (Mortz 2002) is not yet in our evidence base.
Source: Johansen 2003, Am J Clin Dermatol 4(11):789-798, American Journal of Clinical Dermatology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Children have required hospitalization for severe allergic reactions to hair dyes (paraphenylenediamine).
Moderate evidence: Relayed from a single case series (Sosted et al. 2006, 8 children).
Source: Brasch 2007, Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Newborn infants placed on the mother's stomach spontaneously crawl toward the breast guided by smell (and do not do so if the areolas are washed), and even formula-fed infants prefer the odor of a lactating breast, suggesting the preference is innate rather than learned.
Moderate evidence: Small experimental studies from the 1990s cited secondhand; not this review's own data.
Source: Kippenberger 2012, Experimental Dermatology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Only 49 of 230 baby-specific cosmetic products (21.3%) registered through a Danish consumer app in 2015-16 were labeled to contain fragrance, the lowest fragranced rate of the 15 product categories studied; most of the fragranced ones (41 of 49) were leave-on products (creams, lotions, oils, wet wipes).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Self-selected, safety-conscious app-user sample in one country and one year window; a later, larger Danish registry of the same app found 38.0% of baby-care products fragranced, and a US label survey found about 48%, so this figure should not be generalized as 'the' baby-product fragranced rate.
Source: Bennike 2017/2018 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
This report names pregnant and breastfeeding women, young children, teenagers, and cancer patients on anti-cancer treatment as groups who should be protected from continuous EDC exposure, because EDCs can cross the placenta and pass into breast milk.
Moderate evidence: No perfume-specific dose or exposure data for these populations is given.
Source: Tegengif 2022 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In FDA's 2010 follow-up survey, 5 of 24 baby-care products (shampoos, body washes, creams, lotions, and oils) contained diethyl phthalate (DEP), at levels up to 274 ug/g — the only phthalate ester found in any baby-care product tested.
Moderate evidence: N=24 baby-care products from one FDA survey; no infant absorbed-dose or health-outcome data were collected.
Source: Hubinger 2010, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
Exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals during fetal development, infancy, and puberty can permanently reprogram how tissues develop, with effects that may not become visible until years or decades later; children are considered the most vulnerable population because of their hand-to-mouth behavior and higher metabolic rate.
Moderate evidence: This is the report's general developmental-programming framework, illustrated mainly with lead, PCBs, DES, and pesticides, not with fragrance chemicals.
Source: WHO/UNEP 2012 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
The European Commission's 2018 endocrine disruptor framework names fetal development and puberty as the exposure periods of greatest concern, stating that exposure during these windows may cause permanent effects and raise disease susceptibility later in life.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
This restates the 2012 UNEP/WHO consensus report rather than presenting new data of its own; the underlying 'no safe threshold'/non-monotonic dose-response evidence behind that consensus is itself disputed by a later industry-funded critique (see the WHO/UNEP 2012 source page).
Source: EU Commission 2018 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Animal study
In mice, a single prenatal dose of the plasticizer DEHP to a pregnant female can alter reproductive traits (puberty timing, ovarian follicle numbers, fertility, reproductive aging) not just in her directly exposed pups, but in her never-exposed great-grandpups (the F3 generation), an effect attributed to epigenetic changes carried through the germline.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Animal (mouse and rat) evidence only; most positive DEHP transgenerational findings come from one research group (the reviewing authors' own lab), and some effective doses were well above estimated daily human DEHP exposure (~3-30 micrograms/kg/day).
Children and pregnancy / Animal study
Diethyl phthalate (DEP), the phthalate used as a fragrance solvent and fixative in colognes, perfumes, and nail polish, has never been tested alone for transgenerational (multi-generation) reproductive effects; the only relevant animal study exposed pregnant mice to a five-phthalate mixture that was 35% DEP, and could not separate DEP's contribution from the other four phthalates.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
The mixture's effective doses ranged from about 200 micrograms/kg/day (near the paper's own DEP human-exposure estimate of 2.32-12 micrograms/kg/day) up to 500 milligrams/kg/day (occupational or medical-device range), so it does not establish an effect at typical consumer exposure.
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Higher urinary BPA is linked to childhood and adolescent obesity in several large NHANES-based US studies; in one, children in the highest quarter of urinary BPA had more than double the odds of obesity of children in the lowest quarter.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Not all cohorts replicate this: a prospective study of 212 children found no association between urinary BPA and later body composition, and race-specific effects (seen in Whites but not Blacks or Hispanics in one NHANES analysis) suggest the association is not uniform.
Source: Dalamaga 2024, International Journal of Molecular Sciences Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Before the 2010s, essentially every cosmetic-safety exposure estimate for adults rested on just two large industry-run studies — one European, one American — and there was no published consumption or exposure data at all for babies, children, adolescents, or pregnant women; that gap only started closing in the last decade.
Moderate evidence: A single review's characterization of the literature, not a primary measurement; two of its four authors work for a cosmetics manufacturer (Pierre Fabre).
Source: Ficheux 2019, systematic review of 82 studies, 2000-Feb 2018, Food and Chemical Toxicology Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
The Endocrine Society's 2025 position statement calls for EDC regulations to be designed to protect the most vulnerable populations, explicitly naming fetuses, children, pregnant women, and adolescents, because critical developmental windows such as fetal development and infancy affect vulnerability to EDC effects on later-life outcomes.
Moderate evidence: A general policy recommendation across all EDC-containing product categories, not specific to cosmetics or fragrance exposure.
Source: Endocrine Society 2025 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Phthalates such as DEHP are not chemically bound to PVC medical devices, so they continuously leach out of them; the US FDA issued a public health warning about DEHP in medical devices in 2001, and NICU neonates can receive DEHP exposure up to 20 times the tolerable daily intake from medical devices.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
The review describes 'medical devices' generally, of which PVC IV tubing and blood bags are the classic DEHP-plasticized examples, but does not itself name 'IV tubing' or 'blister medication packaging' specifically, nor does it quantify leaching directly into the bloodstream during an infusion. NICU neonates are the most intensively studied, highest-exposure population — this figure should not be generalized to routine adult outpatient IV use without further support.
Source: Latini/Italian review 2006, Toxicology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a New York City cohort, higher levels of low-molecular-weight phthalate breakdown products in mothers' third-trimester urine were associated with more aggressive, conduct, attention and depression-type behavior (and, on the executive-function questionnaire, only poorer emotional control and global composite) in their children ages 4-9 (Engel 2010).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Checked against the primary (2026-11-06). Single cohort (about 171 children); parent-rated, not diagnoses. Attention problems WAS statistically significant in the full sample (beta 1.29, 95% CI 0.16-2.41), contrary to the earlier caveat. Only emotional control and the global composite were significant on the executive-function scale. The signal is for the low-molecular-weight group (DEP, DBP, DiBP, DMP metabolites); high-molecular-weight (DEHP) was null. Sources not tied to fragrance. The 'later elevated ADHD symptoms' link in the video still comes from different cohorts (Cho 2010, Kim 2009, Park 2015).
Source: Engel 2010, cited in Kanwal 2017 review, Environmental Research Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a study of 36 Swedish breastfeeding mothers, those who used a triclosan-containing toothpaste, soap, or deodorant had significantly higher triclosan in both their blood plasma and their breast milk than mothers who did not (median plasma 16 vs. 0.072 ng/g, milk 0.54 vs. 0.019 ng/g; p<0.001).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single-cohort, single-country study; one small earlier study from an overlapping author group (Sandborgh-Englund 2006, n=10) found no group difference, likely due to being underpowered.
Source: Allmyr 2006, Science of The Total Environment Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Modeled triclosan intake for a breastfeeding infant via breast milk (roughly 11-570 ng/day for a 4 kg infant) is far smaller than the mother's own systemic dose, suggesting direct skin contact with triclosan products may matter more for infant exposure than breast milk.
Moderate evidence: This is a modeled estimate from milk concentrations, not a directly measured infant dose or health outcome; no infant health outcome was assessed in this study.
Source: Allmyr 2006, Science of The Total Environment Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a UK cohort of 1,303 infants (the EAT study), each additional weekly infant moisturizer application at 3 months of age was associated with an 18-20% higher adjusted odds of developing challenge-confirmed food allergy by age 3 (adjusted OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.13-1.27).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single observational cohort; moisturizer frequency is parent-reported and not randomized, so confounding by indication (e.g., subclinical dry skin) cannot be fully excluded, though sensitivity analyses reduced this concern.
Source: Perkin 2021 (EAT cohort), Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
The moisturizer-frequency/food-allergy association held both in infants with visible eczema at 3 months (adjusted OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.11-1.31) and in infants with no visible eczema at all (adjusted OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.07-1.30), and survived a reverse-causation sensitivity analysis that excluded infants with any parent-reported history of eczema or dry skin (adjusted OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.01-1.33).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Adjusted for study group, sex, siblings, family eczema history, ethnicity, eczema severity (SCORAD), filaggrin mutation status and TEWL, but exposure is still self-reported and non-randomized.
Source: Perkin 2021 (EAT cohort), Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In the same cohort, bathing frequency at 3 months — despite being strongly correlated with moisturizing frequency — showed no association with later food allergy (adjusted OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.83-1.08), unlike moisturizing frequency itself.
Moderate evidence: A negative-control comparison within one cohort; does not rule out that bathing and moisturizing share some unmeasured common cause.
Source: Perkin 2021 (EAT cohort), Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Olive oil was the single most commonly used infant moisturizer in this UK cohort, in both infants with visible eczema (18.2%) and without (23.1%), consistent with a UK maternity-unit survey in which most units recommending oil for baby skincare recommended olive oil specifically; none of the top-20 products used contained trilipid/ceramide ingredients.
Moderate evidence: Product-name self-report; brand/product list is UK-specific (2009-2012) and may not generalize to other countries or eras.
Source: Perkin 2021 (EAT cohort), Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Japanese RCT of 118 neonates at high familial risk of atopic dermatitis, daily whole-body application of a fragrance-free emollient (2e emulsion) from the first week of life reduced eczema/AD by 32 weeks: 19/59 (32.2%) in the emollient group vs 28/59 (47.5%) in the control group, hazard ratio 0.48 (95% CI 0.27-0.86; log-rank P=.012).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single-center Japanese trial, one specific commercial product, infants selected for family history of AD; the much larger BEEP RCT (n=1,394, a different emollient) did not replicate this eczema-prevention effect.
Source: Horimukai et al. 2014, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Pregnant French women used more cosmetics than non-pregnant women across the board — 104 of 139 surveyed products reached at least 10% use among pregnant women, versus 88 among non-pregnant women — and shifted markedly toward baby-care products before the birth: 50% used anti-stretch-mark cream (vs. 6% of non-pregnant women), and about 1 in 5 already used baby shampoo or baby shower gel (vs. 5-6% of non-pregnant women).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single study, self-report, French-only; pregnant women were deliberately oversampled (8% of the adult-women sample vs. the true ~3% French rate), which does not bias the within-group percentages but means absolute national totals should not be read off this sample directly.
Source: Ficheux et al. 2015, Food and Chemical Toxicology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
French adult women reported using an average of 16 cosmetic products a day (up to 31 for the heaviest 5% of users); French men averaged 8 a day — both well above the only prior figure available, a 2004 US industry survey finding 12/day for women and 6/day for men.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
The two surveys used different methods, countries and a decade apart; higher product counts in the French study could reflect more product categories studied (139 vs. the earlier survey's narrower list) rather than a true rise in use.
Source: Ficheux et al. 2015, Food and Chemical Toxicology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In an independent, French government-funded study of 18,292 people, girls aged 10-14 had the highest modeled conditioner exposure of any group studied: their 90th-percentile exposure (1.78 mg/kg bw/day) was 3 times higher than the EU safety committee's (SCCS) own reference value, and 45% of French girls in that age group exceeded the SCCS's reference value entirely.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single study; exposure is modeled (mg/kg bw/day) from self-reported frequency and a separately-collected amount-per-use dataset, not directly measured internal dose; not yet independently replicated outside France.
Source: Ficheux et al. 2016 (exposure assessment), Food and Chemical Toxicology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Pregnant women had the single highest modeled exposure of any group studied for dry shampoo (90th percentile 10.24 mg/kg bw/day, 95th percentile 15.19 mg/kg bw/day), but were the least-exposed group for styling lacquer and styling wax — pregnancy changed which hair products carried the most exposure, not just how much.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Amount-per-use data specific to pregnant women were too sparse (only 5 of 844 face-to-face survey participants were pregnant) to model separately, so non-pregnant women's amount-per-use data were substituted into the pregnant-women exposure calculation; only frequency of use and body weight were pregnancy-specific inputs.
Source: Ficheux et al. 2016 (exposure assessment), Food and Chemical Toxicology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In the same trial, infants given daily preventive emollient had a nonsignificant increase in confirmed food allergy to milk, egg, or peanut at age 2 (7% vs 5%, adjusted RR 1.47, 95% CI 0.93-2.33) and food sensitization (12% vs 9%, adjusted RR 1.36, 95% CI 0.94-1.95), measured by oral food challenge (21 of 70 cases) or a masked expert panel using a validated EAT-trial-derived algorithm (49 of 70 cases).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Neither the food-allergy nor the sensitization result reached statistical significance; the trial was powered to detect an eczema effect, not a food-allergy effect, so it is likely underpowered for this secondary outcome.
Source: Chalmers et al. 2020 (BEEP trial), The Lancet Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
French parents applied just as much eau de toilette/perfume to babies aged 0-3 per application (mean 370 mg, 95th percentile 695 mg, n=48) as adults applied to themselves (mean 254-262 mg, 95th percentile 586-617 mg) — and nearly a quarter (24%) of parents sprayed it directly onto the baby's skin rather than only onto clothing.
Moderate evidence: Small baby subgroup (n=48); amount reflects supervised single-application weighing, not habitual daily practice.
Source: Ficheux et al. 2016 (amount data), Food and Chemical Toxicology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a study of 163 US infants, mothers' use of baby lotion on their infant in the past day was associated with 80% higher levels of MEP, the breakdown product of the fragrance solvent diethyl phthalate (DEP), in the infant's urine.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cohort, n=163, mostly white (80%) and privately insured (79%) US families recruited 2000-2005; product phthalate content was not measured directly, only inferred from adult personal-care-product literature.
Source: Sathyanarayana et al. 2008, Pediatrics Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
The association between baby lotion use and combined urinary phthalate metabolite levels in infants was about 3.7 times stronger in infants 8 months old or younger than in older infants.
Moderate evidence: Small younger-infant subgroup (n=42) with a wide confidence interval; single cohort.
Source: Sathyanarayana et al. 2008, Pediatrics Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Infants exposed to more baby care products (lotion, shampoo, powder) had progressively higher combined phthalate metabolite levels: about 60% higher with one product used in the past day, roughly doubled with two, and nearly 5-fold higher with three.
Moderate evidence: "Number of products" counts product types used, not amount applied; amount of product used was not quantified in this study.
Source: Sathyanarayana et al. 2008, Pediatrics Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In 20 Korean mothers, the synthetic musk fragrance chemical galaxolide (HHCB) was found in 70% of umbilical cord blood samples, often at levels higher than in the mother's own blood, pointing to the placenta, not just breast milk, as a route by which fragrance musks reach a baby.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single Korean cohort, n=20 cord sera (17 complete mother-infant-milk triads); the authors call it a preliminary study. No product-use data collected, so the exposure source (cosmetics, laundry, etc.) is inferred, not measured. The paper's own text and its own table/summary numbers disagree on whether maternal or cord serum is higher, though both clearly exceed breast milk.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Galaxolide (HHCB) was found in all 17 Korean breast milk samples tested, but at levels 2 to 10 times lower than in the same mothers' blood serum.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
N=17 breast milk samples, one Korean cohort; no health outcome measured; HHCB levels did not correlate across maternal serum, cord serum and breast milk in the same mothers (Spearman p>0.3).
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Musk-ketone was found more often than musk-xylene in Korean mothers' breast milk (65% vs. 53%), the same pattern seen in US mothers' milk and the opposite of the pattern seen in Swedish and German mothers' milk.
Moderate evidence: Small sample (n=17 breast milk); the US/Europe regional-pattern explanation is the interpretation of the Swedish authors (Lignell 2008), not directly tested by this paper.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In 42 Chinese mother-infant pairs, synthetic musk fragrance chemicals (especially galaxolide/HHCB) were found in 95% of 126 paired maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, and breast milk samples.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
One city (Shanghai), 2007 samples, n=42 pairs; no product-use data; no health outcome; detection rates in blood were much lower (12-18 of 42) than in milk (41/42), limiting precision for the blood matrices.
Source: Zhang 2015, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Musk fragrance levels in a newborn's own umbilical cord blood were higher than in the mother's blood, showing these scent chemicals cross the placenta before birth and can accumulate more in the fetus than in the mother.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Median total musk (ng/g lipid weight): cord serum 87.3 vs maternal serum 71.2 in this 42-pair Shanghai cohort; independently matches the direction (not the magnitude) found in a separate 20-pair South Korean cohort (Kang 2010), though Kang 2010's own paper is internally inconsistent about this direction in its prose vs its own tables.
Source: Zhang 2015, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
The ratio of a common fragrance musk chemical (HHCB/galaxolide) in cord blood versus the mother's blood was consistently and significantly above 1, which does not match what simple passive diffusion across the placenta would predict, hinting at an active or facilitated transfer process that is not yet understood.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Based on 17-40 valid paired samples (after excluding non-detects and statistical outliers) from one 42-pair Shanghai cohort; no transporter or protein-binding mechanism was directly tested; the authors call their own suggestion preliminary.
Source: Zhang 2015, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA routinely assesses food additive exposure only for everyone aged 2 and older and for children aged 2 to 5, and for infant formula; other groups such as pregnant women are handled case by case. The review recommends a default 10-fold safety factor for children and pregnant women when data are limited.
Moderate evidence: A recommendation by Pew authors, not an FDA rule; the paper presents no data on harm to these groups.
Source: Maffini 2013, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
A 2020 review summarizing human studies reports that chemicals such as phthalates, parabens, triclosan, PFAS, PCBs, and flame retardants were detected in 99-100% of pregnant women's samples in one US survey, and that levels were no different from non-pregnant women.
Moderate evidence: Secondary summary of cited biomonitoring studies; detection is not health effect; mixtures of 'EDCs' not fragrance-specific.
Source: Street 2020, International Journal of Molecular Sciences Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA found the belladonna content of these homeopathic infant teething tablets varied widely from the label, with some tablets far above the labeled amount, and called that a serious health hazard because babies clear belladonna alkaloids poorly.
Moderate evidence: The letter gives no measured amounts, alkaloid names or number of lots; infant harm cases are not described in it.
Source: FDA requested recall letter, 7 Apr 2017, FDA letter (7 April 2017) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA found atropine and scopolamine in one firm's belladonna infant teething tablets at highly variable levels from tablet to tablet, in a product marketed for infants and children under two.
Moderate evidence: No concentrations are reported; one firm only.
Source: FDA warning letter 17-NWJ-09, 20 Jun 2017 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
FDA's 2019 draft listed products for infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised people as an enforcement priority for homeopathic drugs, because these groups may react to even small amounts of an ingredient and may skip proven treatments.
Moderate evidence: This is a stated priority for enforcement discretion, not a prohibition; FDA says many homeopathic products will fall outside the priority categories.
Source: FDA draft guidance, Drug Products Labeled as Homeopathic (Oct 2019) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA tested a King Bio children's homeopathic product, Dr. King's Kids Bedwetting and Teething Advanced Formula (made Nov 2017, tested Sept 2018), and found 'inordinately high' microbial contamination.
Moderate evidence: One named product, no counts given in the letter; no illness is reported.
Source: FDA warning letter to King Bio, 20 Mar 2019, FDA warning letter (20 March 2019) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA wrote that King Bio made 'hundreds of drugs including those intended for infants, children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised individuals' while its water and products repeatedly failed microbial limits.
Moderate evidence: FDA's description of the firm's range; it does not say how many of those products were contaminated.
Source: FDA warning letter to King Bio, 20 Mar 2019, FDA warning letter (20 March 2019) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The EU committee's opinion notes benzophenone-3 has been found in human urine, blood, breast milk, and placental tissue; it cites a NHANES finding of BP-3 in 97% of 2,517 US urine samples, and a pregnant-women median urinary level (0.47 uM) about 3.4 times the non-pregnant median (0.137 uM) in one study (Majhi 2020).
Moderate evidence: Second-hand summary of biomonitoring studies, not measurements by the SCCS; pregnant vs non-pregnant comparison is a single study and shows exposure, not harm. 2003-04 NHANES data.
Source: SCCS 2021 (BP-3 opinion), SCCS final opinion (PDF) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA lists infants and children, pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised people among the groups it prioritizes for enforcement against unapproved homeopathic drugs, because they may react to even small amounts of an ingredient.
Moderate evidence: Enforcement priority statement, not a measured risk by group.
Source: FDA 2022 Homeopathic Drug Products guidance Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
OEKO-TEX Standard 100 prohibits biologically active (antimicrobial or biocidal) finishes "in all cases" in baby articles (up to 36 months) and in articles with mucous-membrane contact.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
The rule is as written in the standard; compliance depends on applicant declarations and institute testing. The same standard lets such finishes through for other products after OEKO-TEX's own assessment.
Source: OEKO-TEX Standard 100 (2026) Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Baby products in the CIR draft contain polysorbate 60 at up to 1.5% (11 reported uses in 2015) and polysorbate 80 at up to 10%, while the same report advises care with polysorbate penetration enhancement in infant formulations.
Moderate evidence: Concentrations are maximum reported use levels from an industry survey; the advice is a caution, not a finding of harm.
Source: CIR 2015 draft Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
A polysorbate-containing neonatal parenteral supplement (9% PEG-20 sorbitan oleate, 1% PEG-20 sorbitan laurate) was linked to the deaths of 38 premature infants in the 2000 CIR summary reprinted in the 2015 draft.
Moderate evidence: Intravenous drug vehicle in sick premature infants, a very different route and dose from cosmetics; secondhand summary.
Source: CIR 2015 draft Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In August 2017 FDA warned a Montreal homeopathic maker (Homeolab USA/Homeocan) that its drugs were adulterated, saying it shipped belladonna-containing powder blends for infant teething tablets to a US contract manufacturer before validating its process or testing blend uniformity.
Moderate evidence: Regulator's allegation in a warning letter, not an adjudicated finding; lot numbers, counts and measured amounts are redacted or absent.
Source: FDA warning letter 320-17-45, 2 Aug 2017 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The largest single cost in the EU analysis is children's IQ loss and intellectual disability from organophosphate pesticide exposure, about EUR 146 billion a year before probability weighting, with a further EUR 9.6 billion for PBDE flame retardants.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
The panel rated human evidence moderate-to-high and probability of causation 70-100%, but the dollar value is a model output and about 76% of the pre-weighting EU total rests on this one relationship.
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
In EFSA's regulatory-maximum scenario, 95th-percentile polysorbate intake from food additives is 19.4-58.0 mg per kg body weight a day in toddlers and up to 63.7 in children, above the 25 mg/kg a day safe-intake limit for every age group; the brand-loyal refined scenario gives up to 37.4 (toddlers) and 57.5 (children).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Modeled high-end scenarios from industry-reported use levels and national diet surveys, not measured intakes; EFSA calls the maximum scenario conservative. Cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other sources not counted, three food categories lacked data.
Source: EFSA ANS Panel (2015), full opinion, EFSA Journal Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
EFSA's mildest scenario (average reported use levels in all foods) puts the highest-exposed toddlers at 24.5 mg per kg body weight a day, about 98% of the 25 mg/kg limit, while the same scenario puts adults and the elderly at 7 or less.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
This is the highest value across surveys at the 95th percentile in one scenario; EFSA says it may underestimate because of missing use data, supplement variability and uncounted non-food sources.
Source: EFSA ANS Panel (2015), full opinion, EFSA Journal Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In 261 Korean children aged 8-11, those with higher urine levels of DEHP breakdown products (a plastic softener found in food packaging and vinyl) were rated by teachers as having more inattention and hyperactivity symptoms.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional, one spot urine taken at testing; symptom scale not a diagnosis; no family history of ADHD; the authors say no causal inference is possible. Association only. Overlapping Korean investigator group as Cho 2010; independence not confirmed.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a New York City study of 188 children, mothers with higher urine levels of low-molecular-weight phthalate breakdown products (from DEP, DBP and similar) in late pregnancy reported more conduct problems, aggression, attention problems and depression-type behavior in their 4-9-year-olds; the strongest effect was for conduct problems (about 2.4 points on a 50-mean T-score per log-unit increase).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cohort; one urine sample; about 171 children after attrition (177 of 404 women); parent-rated screening scales, not diagnoses; no multiple-comparison correction; the exposure group mixes DEP, DBP and DiBP from several sources; authors call for replication; the larger Norwegian MoBa study found these LMW metabolites null for ADHD diagnoses.
Source: Engel 2010, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In 621 Korean school children (mean age 9), higher urine levels of DEHP breakdown products (MEHP, MEOHP) went with lower scores on a vocabulary test even after accounting for the mothers' IQ; the link was seen in boys, not girls.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional, one spot urine taken the same day as testing; no home-environment measure; FSIQ and VIQ associations disappeared after maternal IQ was added. Authors say they cannot claim a definitive independent relationship. Association only.
Source: Cho 2010, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In that Korean study, the apparent link between DEHP metabolites and lower overall IQ (about 2 points per ln-unit) was explained away by mothers' IQ: after adjustment, FSIQ and verbal IQ were not significantly associated.
Moderate evidence: Single study; maternal IQ may be a confounder or partly a pathway (adjusting can underestimate a true effect, as the authors note); model 2 n not stated.
Source: Cho 2010, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Korean clinic study, boys aged 8-11 with ADHD had urine levels of DEHP breakdown products about twice, and of the DBP breakdown product about 1.3 times, those of boys from ordinary schools (e.g., MEHP 48 vs 25 ug/g creatinine).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional, one spot urine, 78 clinic-referred boys; the difference was not significant in non-referred ADHD boys (n=35); cases had more-educated parents; shared control cohort with Cho 2010 and Kim 2009 (not independent).
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
A 2015 systematic review of 11 human studies found that higher urinary phthalate metabolite levels in pregnancy or childhood were associated with poorer scores on tests of child cognition, behavior and attention in most of the studies, more often in boys.
Moderate evidence: Associational only; studies could not be pooled; three of the 11 share one cohort; the review's boys-vs-girls count does not reproduce from its own tables; not fragrance-specific.
Source: [[src-2015-phthalate-exposure-childrens-neurodevelopment-systematic|Ejaredar 2015]], Environmental Research Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Spanish birth cohort of 367 children whose mothers gave urine in early and late pregnancy, prenatal phthalate levels were mostly unrelated to thinking, motor and behavior scores at ages 1, 4 and 7; the authors concluded there was no adverse effect.
Moderate evidence: Single cohort; many tests without correction; urinary markers from all sources; spot urine misclassifies exposure; under-represents disadvantaged mothers.
Source: [[src-2015-prenatal-exposure-phthalates-neuropsychological-development-during-childhood|Gascon 2015]], International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.