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.
Health effects / Review of other studies
The review classes organophosphate pesticide findings on ADHD as inconsistent (for example, urinary metabolites above the median went with about double the odds in one cross-sectional study, but a cohort found no link at age 2 and a link at ages 3.5 to 5).
Weak evidence: Single studies summarized secondhand; pesticides are not fragrance-related.
Source: Thapar 2013, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In this meta-regression, region of the world did not explain differences in ADHD prevalence after study methods were taken into account (all region P values 0.17 to 0.65 against North America), though Africa (5 studies) and Oceania (7) were thinly represented and most studies were not nationally representative.
Weak evidence: Few African and Oceanian studies; non-representative samples; authors say broader social factors cannot be excluded.
Source: Polanczyk 2014, International Journal of Epidemiology Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In a small Serbian clinic study, 24 children aged 7-14 with ADHD, all taking methylphenidate, named fewer familiar odors correctly than 26 healthy children (about 6.2 vs 8.9 of 14, p < 0.001).
Weak evidence: Single clinic, n = 24 vs 26, all ADHD children medicated, IQ not measured in controls, no covariate adjustment; a trait outcome, not a fragrance exposure.
Source: Vučinić et al. 2016, Engrami Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
The same study found children with ADHD were slightly worse at telling odors apart (about 8.9 vs 9.8 of 16, p < 0.05), a borderline difference.
Weak evidence: Exact p value not given; from the printed means and SDs a t-test gives about p = 0.05; no multiplicity correction.
Source: Vučinić et al. 2016, Engrami Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Studies of smell in children with ADHD disagree: a German study found better odor detection in unmedicated children, while this Serbian study found worse odor identification and discrimination in medicated children.
Weak evidence: Different subtests (threshold vs identification/discrimination) and medication status; both small single-center studies.
Source: Vučinić et al. 2016, Engrami Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Because every child with ADHD in this Serbian smell study was on methylphenidate, the study cannot say whether ADHD itself or the medication explains the lower scores.
Weak evidence: The authors themselves list this as a limitation.
Source: Vučinić et al. 2016, Engrami Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In about 2,700 Barcelona schoolchildren aged 7-11, higher traffic-related air pollution measured at school (elemental carbon, NO2) went with about 7-8% higher parent-reported behavioral difficulty scores per interquartile range, and the pattern held after adjusting for classroom noise.
Weak evidence: Cross-sectional, 39 school-level exposure values, parent-rated only, small effect; not a causal estimate. Air pollution is not fragrance-related.
Source: Forns 2016, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
The Barcelona school study found no association between school traffic air pollution and teacher-rated ADHD symptoms in single-exposure models, and one unexplained inverse estimate for indoor elemental carbon (aMR 0.89, 0.82-0.96) when noise was added.
Weak evidence: Authors state the inverse finding may reflect chance or bias; two different raters scored the two outcomes so they cannot be compared directly.
Source: Forns 2016, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In this clinic sample, 43% of women (19/44) versus 22% of men (16/72) with ADHD were in the top band for under- or over-responsiveness to sensory input, but the paper reports no significance test and gender was not significant in the adjusted models (OR 1.94 and 1.79).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Descriptive percentages from 44 women; the abstract's 'especially in females' is not supported by an inferential test; the Discussion's 32%/27% figures are a different cut of the same data.
Source: Bijlenga 2017, European Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Review of other studies
In this meta-analysis, pooled studies of pesticides, PCBs and trichlorophenol in children found no overall association with ADHD (odds ratio 0.99, 95% CI 0.96-1.02 in the text; 1.03 in Table 1), with very low to low certainty.
Weak evidence: Heterogeneous chemicals grouped for lack of studies; the authors say no specific conclusion can be drawn; publication bias flagged for this group.
Source: Nilsen and Tulve 2020, Environmental Research Link to this fact
Health effects / Review of other studies
The review pooled childhood cigarette smoke exposure and ADHD to an odds ratio of 2.7, rated high certainty, but Table 1 gives a 95% confidence interval of 0.93-4.47 that includes no effect.
Weak evidence: Postnatal exposure by cotinine or parent report in 6 studies; no familial-confounding design; text and table CIs disagree; tobacco smoke is not a fragrance ingredient.
Source: Nilsen and Tulve 2020, Environmental Research Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In this meta-analysis persistent adult ADHD appeared more common in low- and middle-income countries (8.0%) than in high-income countries (3.3%), but the low- and middle-income figure rests on 7 data points with a very wide interval.
Weak evidence: Differences in sampling, language and instruments across countries are not separated from true differences; symptomatic ADHD showed no significant income difference (P = 0.17).
Source: Song 2021, Journal of Global Health Link to this fact
Health effects / Animal study
The review's only blue-specific data are animal and cell studies: a rat study of Blue No. 2 found no neurocarcinogenicity, a cell study found Blue No. 1 plus glutamate slowed neurite growth, and a mouse study found slower motor tasks and, in females, more spontaneous 'hyperactive' behavior at high doses of Brilliant Blue FCF.
Weak evidence: Animal and cell results; none is a human finding, and doses and relevance to children are not established. Relayed second-hand, not checked against the primaries.
Health effects / Animal study
In rodent studies (animal evidence), food dyes changed activity in 17 of 21 spontaneous-activity studies, and Red 40 and Yellow 5 reduced medial prefrontal cortex volume and neuron counts, effects prevented by antioxidants.
Weak evidence: Animal evidence only; mostly gavage or diet doses in rodents; many studies lacked litter-based statistics; human relevance and gut metabolism of azo dyes unresolved.
Health effects / Other evidence
In the olfactory studies the review pooled, children with ADHD stopped from methylphenidate showed no difference from controls in odor threshold or identification in one study (p = 0.345 to 0.855), against a lower threshold in the other (p < 0.004).
Weak evidence: Two small German clinic studies (20 per group; 13-22 per group); the lower-threshold result is not replicated; trait measure on a rose-like odorant, not odor intolerance.
Source: Recarey-Rama 2025, Journal of Psychiatric Research Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
The review's abstract says children on methylphenidate had worse odor discrimination than unmedicated children, but the one study that measured it found higher discrimination in the unmedicated (withdrawal) group than in controls (p = 0.009) and no significant difference from the medicated group (p = 0.068).
Weak evidence: The abstract summary is not supported by its own table; both groups are cross-sectional, different children.
Source: Recarey-Rama 2025, Journal of Psychiatric Research Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Children with ADHD not on methylphenidate reported less pain than controls (p = 0.015) in a German survey of 260 children, while medicated children did not differ from controls (p = 0.782).
Weak evidence: Single study with a self-constructed parent/child questionnaire; cross-sectional between-group comparison; opposite results in Turkish and US studies cited by the authors.
Source: Recarey-Rama 2025, Journal of Psychiatric Research Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Two French studies found worse postural control in children with ADHD that improved after about a month of methylphenidate, but a German study with methylphenidate plus atomoxetine did not replicate it.
Weak evidence: Small samples (14 to 38 per group); not an environmental or fragrance finding; mixed medication in the null study.
Source: Recarey-Rama 2025, Journal of Psychiatric Research Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In a 2026 Turkish clinic study of 26 unmedicated teenagers with ADHD and 29 clinic comparison teens, the ADHD group reported more touch sensitivity (10.5 vs 8.5) and touch avoidance (8.5 vs 6.5) on the Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile; both held up after false-discovery-rate correction.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Single-center study, n=26 vs 29, self-report; comparison group is clinic-attending teens, not community controls; correction applied only within small test families; no IQ or ADHD severity scale.
Source: Buyuktaskin 2026, Scientific Reports Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
The same teens with ADHD did not differ significantly from comparison teens on two lab measures of touch: the electrical detection threshold was 1.62 vs 1.30 mA (p=0.061) and temporal discrimination was 92.6 vs 94.9 ms (p=0.83).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Powered only for large effects (d about 0.76), so this does not prove equal touch function; detection threshold trended higher in ADHD (d=0.52, CI 0.02-1.05); temporal discrimination showed a Group x Age interaction so no adjusted comparison was done.
Source: Buyuktaskin 2026, Scientific Reports Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Within the 26 teens with ADHD, more tactile low registration went with more parent-reported hyperactivity (rho 0.52, 95% CI 0.16-0.75) and more self-reported externalizing problems (rho 0.44, 0.07-0.71), and tactile sensation seeking also went with externalizing problems (rho 0.44).
Weak evidence: Exploratory, uncorrected for the many correlations tested, n=26, cross-sectional, wide intervals; association only; SDQ is a screening scale, not an ADHD severity measure.
Source: Buyuktaskin 2026, Scientific Reports Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Two touch-threshold correlations in ADHD teens (temporal discrimination with sensory seeking and with parent-rated hyperactivity) disappeared once age was accounted for, because younger ADHD teens had longer thresholds.
Weak evidence: Small sample; the authors treat these as exploratory.
Source: Buyuktaskin 2026, Scientific Reports Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
A 2026 meta-analysis of 29 observational studies found children with higher exposure to traffic-type air pollutants had modestly higher odds of ADHD: about 1.3 times for PM2.5 per study-specific increment (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.16-1.50) and 1.5 times for PM10 (OR 1.47, 1.15-1.87).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Not fragrance-related: noise and outdoor air pollutants. Observational; I2 90-97%; increments differ by study; pooled effect carried by diagnosis-based studies; no familial or sibling designs; authors say association, not causation.
Source: Zhang 2026, Frontiers in Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In the same meta-analysis, household and school noise exposure went with a tiny rise in child ADHD odds (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.05, I2 89%), and prenatal exposure to noise, NO2, PM10 or PM2.5 showed no significant association.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Not fragrance-related: noise and outdoor air pollutants. The authors call the noise effect modest and possibly due to large samples, residual confounding or chance; prenatal noise has only two estimates.
Source: Zhang 2026, Frontiers in Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Studies that measured ADHD by clinical diagnosis, mostly registry-based, drove the pooled air-pollution results: in high-versus-low models, rating-scale studies were null (NO2 OR 0.98, PM10 0.99, PM2.5 1.02) while diagnosis-based studies were far higher (1.79, 2.39, 1.69).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Not fragrance-related: noise and outdoor air pollutants. Only 2-4 estimates per subgroup; the authors attribute it to diagnostic inconsistency; healthcare access and socioeconomic status are plausible alternatives.
Source: Zhang 2026, Frontiers in Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
This meta-analysis found no significant ADHD association for NOx, ozone or sulfur dioxide (ORs about 1.04), but the authors say the three or four studies per pollutant make this inconclusive rather than proof of no effect.
Weak evidence: Not fragrance-related: noise and outdoor air pollutants. Few studies; limited reliability of funnel and Egger tests at this size.
Source: Zhang 2026, Frontiers in Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Adjusting for other prenatal substances or postnatal secondhand smoke left the childhood-age severity association in place but removed it at ages 13-14 to 17-18 and at 7-8 and 13-14 in smaller subsets, so older-age effects are not robust.
Weak evidence: Null results came mostly from much smaller samples; models for directionality failed to converge in older bins.
Source: Marceau 2026 (ECHO), Development and Psychopathology Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
E-cigarette use in pregnancy showed only sparse, unsystematic associations with child behavior scores in children aged 10 or younger (3.90% exposed), too imprecise to call safe or harmful.
Weak evidence: Subset; wide confidence intervals; authors call it preliminary.
Source: Marceau 2026 (ECHO), Development and Psychopathology Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In an online survey of 209 adults in Riyadh, adults who reported an ADHD diagnosis (n=91) or who screened positive on a six-item checklist without a diagnosis (n=66) scored higher than low-symptom adults (n=52) on self-reported low registration, sensory sensitivity and sensation avoiding, after adjusting for anxiety/depression (partial eta-squared .404, .288, .225).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional convenience sample, self-reported diagnosis and symptoms, single site and mostly Saudi sample; self-report profile, not a measured sensory threshold; no replication.
Source: Aljuhani 2026, Frontiers in Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
In the same survey, diagnosed and screen-positive adults reported more difficulty with social participation than low-symptom adults (adjusted mean differences 7.05 and 5.39 points on a 10-50 scale; d about 1.15 and 0.88), and the two ADHD-positive groups did not differ significantly (p = .269).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Self-report, extreme-groups contrast, the Arabic version of the subscale had alpha .18 in an earlier validation (alpha .77 here); the nonsignificant difference between the two ADHD groups came from a study powered to detect only a medium-sized difference (f about 0.22).
Source: Aljuhani 2026, Frontiers in Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Adding the four self-reported sensory-processing scores to a model of social-participation difficulty raised explained variance from about 25.5% to 51.4% (change .260); low registration and sensation avoiding went with more difficulty and sensation seeking with less, and the ADHD-group terms became nonsignificant.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Association only; predictor and outcome come from conceptually overlapping self-report instruments completed in one sitting (shared-method variance, which the authors acknowledge); direction and causation cannot be inferred.
Source: Aljuhani 2026, Frontiers in Psychiatry Link to this fact
Health effects / Other evidence
Among adults with a self-reported ADHD diagnosis, low registration (reduced noticing of sensory input) was the only sensory measure that was higher than in screen-positive adults without a diagnosis (difference 4.64, d 0.52, p = .009), and it was also the largest group effect.
Weak evidence: One of several comparisons within one small convenience sample; unreplicated; self-reported diagnosis never verified.
Source: Aljuhani 2026, Frontiers in Psychiatry Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
Acetaldehyde, a possible human carcinogen (IARC Group 2B), was released by 23 of 42 baby products and was never listed on any label.
Weak evidence: Not quantified; may partly form during 40 C incubation.
Source: Nematollahi 2018, Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Review of other studies
As early as 2004, a letter in Environmental Health Perspectives warned that fragrances can draw on thousands of chemicals and that most fragranced products had never been tested for human toxicity.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
The '4,000' figure comes from a 1991 book (Ashford & Miller) and describes untested products, not chemicals; later counts run ~3,000. Date 2020, now read as primary, corroborates 'thousands' as the right order of magnitude for the RIFM inventory (~2,600 active + ~3,500 discontinued) and separately states many individual fragrance materials lack toxicity data for standard endpoints — closer to Curtis's 'never tested' claim than any inventory count — but that is about individual chemicals with read-across-fillable data gaps, not about untested products, and does not confirm Curtis's specific '>4,000' figure.
Source: Curtis 2004, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
A 2015 student lab analysis of 12 popular US perfumes and body sprays found 14-33 separate organic chemicals in each product (130 in all), while US law lets the label say just "fragrance".
Weak evidence: Identities are unconfirmed library matches and were never published; counts depend on the detection threshold. Pair with Steinemann 2011 rather than citing alone.
Source: Lee 2015, Young Scientist Journal (Vanderbilt University) Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
In a university lab test, 3 of 4 cheap generic or dollar-store plug-in air fresheners gave off petroleum-type solvents (alkanes, one with n-hexane) and the fourth was mostly ethanol; none of these adds scent or appears on the package, and the brand-name plug-ins tested showed neither.
Weak evidence: Student journal; one unit per product; identities not confirmed with standards; no amounts measured.
Source: Pino-Delgado 2021 (J Student Res), Journal of Student Research Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Government agency
The industry safety panel's own risk calculation for PFOA (a persistent 'forever chemical' associated with PTFE manufacture) in lipstick relies on a single chemical supplier's claim of under 25 parts per billion in the raw material before it is formulated into a product — no actual PTFE-containing lipstick was tested for PFOA.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
The <25 ppb figure and the resulting '755-fold below EPA's advisory' conclusion are worst-case arithmetic on an unverified, pre-formulation raw-material claim, not a measurement of any real cosmetic product.
Source: CIR 2018 Industry-funded Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Industry source
PTFE (Teflon) is reportedly used in some cosmetics at concentrations up to 30%, more than double the 13% leave-on maximum cited from the industry-funded Cosmetic Ingredient Review.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
The paper's own use-concentration data for most PFAS ingredients 'differed by orders of magnitude' across sources; the specific source and current-market relevance of the 30% figure could not be verified for this ingest, and it may reflect a patent-claimed rather than marketed formulation.
Source: Balan 2024, Environmental Science & Technology Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
Antiperspirants can contain 20-45% D5 (cyclopentasiloxane) by weight, and some leave-on hair serums are D5-dominant products.
Weak evidence: Figures come from a cited third-party product survey, not this paper's own chemical analysis of product formulations.
Source: Montemayor 2013, Chemosphere Industry-funded Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Review of other studies
Citing Uhde & Schulz (2015), more than 90% of substances in tested fragranced products were not declared on labels, and neither the FDA nor EU authorities have the resources to evaluate ingredient safety in all scented products on the market.
Weak evidence: Secondhand citation of a study not independently read for this evidence base entry.
Source: Adamowicz 2019, Cancer Prevention Research Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Government agency
Cosmetics Europe describes its COSMILE Europe database as giving consumers "reliable, verified and scientifically supported information" on almost 30,000 cosmetic ingredients, but its own press release does not name any data source or independent verification method for that content.
Weak evidence: Absence of a stated methodology in this press release does not itself mean the database is inaccurate; it means the accuracy claim cannot be checked from this document alone.
Source: Cosmetics Europe 2023 Industry-funded Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Review of other studies
In a 2007 NRDC test of 14 US air fresheners, 12 (86%), including some labeled 'all-natural' or 'unscented', emitted phthalates at up to 7,307 ppm, and none listed a phthalate on the label.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
NRDC 2007 is gray literature (an advocacy-group test, not peer-reviewed) and is not itself in our evidence base; this relays it secondhand through a 2017 review. Only 14 products tested, almost 20 years ago, so 86% is not a figure for the current market or for air fresheners in general. Peer-reviewed testing (Dodson 2012) separately confirms air fresheners are among the highest-DEP product categories, but does not reproduce this specific percentage.
Source: NRDC 2007 (via Steinemann 2017), Building and Environment Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
The capsules in this study were hardened with glutaraldehyde, a recognized skin and airway sensitizer, and formaldehyde and melamine-formaldehyde were also tested as hardener or additive; the paper measured no residues in the finished fabric and reported an interfering glutaraldehyde odor at the highest hardener ratio.
Weak evidence: The paper tested textile performance only: no skin, residue or air measurements, so it shows the chemistry is used, not that wearers are exposed.
Source: Miró Specos 2010, Journal of Industrial Textiles Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
Labels such as Oeko-Tex or Made in the EU do not mean no allergenic dye is used; the review cites a case of dermatitis from an 'ecological' dye not on the Oeko-Tex list.
Weak evidence: Single case report; shows the label restricts a listed set of dyes, not that products are free of sensitizers.
Source: Malinauskiene 2013, Contact Dermatitis Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
In a check by the review's authors, 11 of 22 randomly selected GRAS notices that FDA let pass with 'no questions' included no data on how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes (ADME) the chemical.
Weak evidence: Very small sample (22), selection described in one sentence, notices up to about 2011; no statistical analysis. A signal of a gap, not a national rate.
Source: Maffini 2013, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
A contact-allergen product database (SkinSAFE) lists BAK or a related quaternary ammonium compound such as benzethonium chloride in 2,007 of 11,979 products (17%), spanning antiseptics, eye and nasal products, cosmetics, and detergents.
Weak evidence: Database listing of products by ingredient, not exposure measurement; includes cross-reactors that were not tested; database coverage and product mix are unverified.
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
The authors found BAK or similar quaternary ammonium ingredients in many products marketed for eczema and sensitive skin; one US product database reportedly lists about 20% of products as containing BAK or similar compounds.
Weak evidence: Relayed, unpublished figure; no product list given; 'similar compounds' is broad and not tested for allergy.
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
Acetophenone azine was not an intended ingredient: researchers think it is a catalyst or by-product of making EVA foam, and manufacturers may not know it is in their sports gear.
Weak evidence: The reason AA is present is unconfirmed; this is a theory from case reports.
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
Organic or eco-friendly cotton clothing was not lower in formaldehyde: organic averaged about 10.4 vs 8.2 mg/kg for regular cotton, and the two highest garments (55.7 and 37.3 mg/kg panties) were 100% organic cotton.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Difference significant only for pregnancy bras and panties (10 items each); organic is a farming standard, not a finishing standard; mixes organic with 'chemical-free' labels; one study.
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
A GOTS-certified organic dress had 20.0 mg/kg formaldehyde even though the paper says GOTS-certified textiles should be formaldehyde-free, and all 25 certified garments met the OEKO-TEX 75 mg/kg limit.
Weak evidence: A single garment (sample #92); the paper also states a 16 mg/kg GOTS limit; one test method, one lab.
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
This review of antiseptics and disinfectants does not discuss benzalkonium chloride in antiseptic bandages or wound dressings; the only dressings it covers are silver-based ones, which rarely cause contact allergy.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Absence of evidence in this one paper, not evidence of safety or of harm for BAK-containing dressings; bandages and plasters appear only in a list of surgical devices that cause dermatitis.
Source: Lauriola 2025, Italian Journal of Dermatology and Venereology Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
BAK is found in roughly half to two-thirds of eye-drop products and also in some laundry rinses and bath oils, so a rash can have more than one source.
Weak evidence: Prevalence is secondhand from citations; the household products were co-exposures in two cases, not shown to cause disease.
Source: Kannen 2026, Australasian Journal of Dermatology Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
In 2006 EWG stated that 'the government cannot mandate safety studies of cosmetics, and as a result 89 percent of the ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products have not been adequately assessed for safety,' and described its Skin Deep database as covering 25,000 products.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
An advocacy organization's own unreferenced statistic; the report gives no method or definition of 'adequately assessed', so it should be cited as EWG's claim, not as an established fact.
Source: EWG 2006 Annual Report, EWG annual report (PDF) Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
Acetals of citral, hydroxycitronellal, and cinnamaldehyde (FEMA 4485, 4486, 4596) were added to the FEMA GRAS list in 2009 as flavors; these are derivatives of well-known fragrance allergens.
Weak evidence: Names only; whether the acetals release the parent aldehyde in food or on skin is not addressed in the article.
Source: Smith et al. 2009 (FEMA Expert Panel), GRAS Flavoring Substances 24, Food Technology 63(6), Food Technology Industry-funded Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
GOTS 8.1's list of prohibited hazard statements for general chemical inputs covers carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive toxicants, organ toxicants, and endocrine disruptors but, as printed, not skin (H317) or respiratory (H334) sensitizers, so sensitizing chemicals are only banned by name for dyes.
Weak evidence: Reading of the printed list; other GOTS documents may add restrictions, and certification relies on approved inputs, not this list alone.
Source: GOTS 8.1 (2026) Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Review of other studies
In 2012 the Environmental Working Group reported that only 7 percent of the 2,000-plus household cleaners it rated adequately disclosed their contents.
Weak evidence: EWG's own figure; 'adequately' is not defined on the page, the sample and grading rules are not given, and EWG is an interested advocacy organization.
Source: EWG press release, Sept. 10, 2012, EWG press release (web page) Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
Some cleaning makers disclosed nothing in 2012, while others used vague terms such as 'surfactant' and 'solvent' for ingredients.
Weak evidence: Qualitative statement by an advocacy group; no counts or product examples on this page.
Source: EWG press release, Sept. 10, 2012, EWG press release (web page) Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
EWG's own analysis of over 4,000 personal care products found that undisclosed 'fragrance' appeared in 6.4 percentage points more products marketed to Black women than in EWG's 2016 report, which it says equals hundreds more products.
Weak evidence: Advocacy-NGO analysis of its own database, not peer reviewed; the news page gives no statistics or product-selection method.
Source: EWG 2025 (Friedman & Huang), EWG news (web page) Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
A published case report describes a 29-year-old woman who had anaphylaxis minutes after a craft beer whose label listed only malts and hops; the brewer confirmed ground coriander seed (1 g per liter) was in it, and she reacted to a coriander challenge.
Weak evidence: Single patient; the beer itself was not challenged, challenge was open (not blinded), no allergen was identified, alcohol as a cofactor cannot be excluded.
Hidden ingredients / Other evidence
Men who used deodorant in the past 24 hours had about 74% higher urinary MEP, almost as much as cologne users (83%), though the study did not test what the deodorants contained.
Weak evidence: Single-product model; deodorant use may mark other fragranced products and no product contents were measured.
Source: Nassan 2017, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.