Every fact on this site, with its evidence grade, its caveats, and a link to the source.
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 / Measured in people or real products
Pregnant women who had used perfume or cologne in the past day had 167% higher urine levels of MEP, the breakdown product of the fragrance solvent diethyl phthalate (DEP), than women who hadn't (177 women, Boston).
Strong evidence.
Caveats
Exposure marker, not health outcome; independently replicated in two further US cohorts with overlapping confidence intervals: Parlett 2013 (2.92x, postpartum, SFF multi-site) and Just 2010 (2.3x, 95% CI 1.6-3.3, pregnant, NYC minority cohort, with a dose-response and a null personal-air DEP association pointing to a dermal exposure route).
Source: Braun 2014, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
A 2018 US EPA systematic review found robust evidence that two common phthalates, DEHP and DBP, are linked to male reproductive harm (lower sperm quality; shorter anogenital distance in baby boys exposed before birth) at everyday exposure levels.
Strong evidence: Associations graded by protocol; DEHP/DBP are mainly plasticizers, not fragrance ingredients; no meta-analysis.
Source: Radke 2018 (US EPA), Environment International Link to this fact
Health effects / Review of other studies
In the same EPA review, diethyl phthalate (DEP), the phthalate used in fragrance, had only 'slight' evidence of male reproductive effects, the weakest of six phthalates, even though people are exposed to it the most.
Strong evidence: Use to set the record straight, not to accuse fragrance; 'slight' is not 'none' (more high-confidence studies needed).
Source: Radke 2018 (US EPA), Environment International Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
In lab tests of 213 US household and personal-care products, not one label listed a phthalate, yet the phthalate DEP, a common fragrance solvent, turned up in half of the pooled conventional product samples.
Strong evidence: Products bought 2007-08; composited samples; content not dose.
Source: Dodson 2012, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Review of other studies
US law does not require the individual chemicals in a fragrance to be listed, so a shopper cannot tell from the label whether a scented product contains diethyl phthalate.
Strong evidence: Regulatory background statement, as of 2013.
Source: Parlett 2013, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Advocacy group testing
Ingredient labels cannot show what is inside 'parfum': a 2010 Canadian cosmetics survey had to leave out diethyl phthalate, a common fragrance solvent, because 'short of a laboratory analysis, there's no way to know'.
Strong evidence: Illustrative quote; for measured prevalence cite Dodson 2012 (DEP in 21/42 conventional composites, no label listed a phthalate).
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
Health Canada's own testing of 252 Canadian cosmetic and personal care products found the fragrance solvent DEP in 70% of fragrance products, at levels up to 2.6% by weight, yet every DEP-positive product was labeled only with the generic term "parfum" — never DEP or any phthalate.
Strong evidence.
Caveats
N=252 individually tested products, Canadian market, 2007-08; detection frequency is lower than two smaller earlier surveys (Hubinger & Havery 2006, EWG 2002) found for fragrances specifically.
Source: Koniecki 2011, Environmental Research Link to this fact
What you can do / Review of other studies
Choosing fragrance-free personal care products is a reasonable way to cut DEP exposure, since DEP is used as a fragrance solvent; label reading alone will not catch phthalates.
Strong evidence: Reasoned advice; not tested as an intervention in this paper.
Source: Crinnion 2010, Alternative Medicine Review Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a US study, baby boys whose mothers had higher levels of several phthalates in their urine during pregnancy had a shorter distance between the anus and genitals, a sign of reduced male-hormone action during development in animal studies. A much larger (N=753), purpose-designed prospective follow-up by the same research group (TIDES, Swan 2015) confirmed this specifically for DEHP metabolites (a PVC plasticizer), with a significant, dose-responsive association at about half the original exposure level. It found no association for diethyl phthalate (DEP), the phthalate used in fragrance, nor for the other three phthalates (DBP, BBzP, DiBP) that had appeared linked in the original small study.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Swan 2005: 85 mother-son pairs, one urine sample, association. Swan 2015/TIDES (N=753, primary source, reconciled 2026-09-27): DEHP metabolites replicated (P=0.008-0.036); DEP/MEP null (P=0.374/0.953); DBP/BBzP/DiBP also non-significant as continuous associations in this larger cohort. US EPA (Radke 2018) rates DBP/DEHP-AGD moderate and DEP-AGD slight, consistent with this primary. Do not use this study for a fragrance/DEP claim; the replicated component is DEHP, a plasticizer, not a fragrance ingredient.
Source: Swan 2005, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Pregnant women who used perfume in a 48-hour window had 2.3 times higher urinary levels of MEP, the breakdown product of the fragrance solvent diethyl phthalate (DEP), than non-users, in a study of 186 low-income African American and Dominican pregnant women in New York City — independently replicating the same finding in a Boston fertility-clinic cohort (Braun 2014, 167% higher) and a postpartum cohort (Parlett 2013, 2.92x).
Moderate evidence: Exposure marker only, no health outcome; single cohort, cross-sectional; 95% CI 1.6-3.3 overlaps Braun 2014 and Parlett 2013.
Source: Just 2010, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a US EPA/CDC study of 33 breastfeeding women, phthalate breakdown products were detected in fewer than 10% of breast milk samples and were essentially absent from saliva, even though the same women had detectable phthalate metabolites in nearly all of their urine samples.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Small pilot study (n=33, two visits); the metabolites reported for milk are four DEHP-derived oxidative metabolites, not MEP (the fragrance phthalate DEP's metabolite), which was analyzed only in urine.
Source: Hines 2009, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In the same large study (N=753), urinary levels of diethyl phthalate (DEP), the phthalate most strongly and consistently tied to perfume and fragranced personal-care product use, showed no association with anogenital distance in baby boys — the largest and best-controlled human test yet of this specific fragrance-phthalate reproductive claim, in the same boys where DEHP did show an effect.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
A null result in one (albeit the largest) cohort cannot fully rule out an effect at higher exposure levels than this population had; two smaller medium-confidence cohorts (Odense, SELMA) were also null, per US EPA's review.
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 / 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
Human cohort studies summarized in a 2017 review link prenatal and childhood phthalate exposure to poorer childhood executive function, attention, aggression, depression, and ADHD diagnosis/severity.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Associations across several different human cohorts (ages 4-15 depending on study), not a single unified study; phthalate exposure measured was from all sources (diet, plastics, personal care), not fragrance specifically; the reproductive/fertility part of the video's claim is separately and more strongly supported by an existing evidence base claim for DEHP/DBP specifically (c-f0411e8eb5, Radke 2018 US EPA systematic review, 'strong' evidence for lower sperm quality and shorter anogenital distance), not by this neurotoxicity review. 'Skeletal growth' specifically is not addressed by any source currently in our evidence base (only a secondhand, unconfirmed link between DEHP and lower IGF-I/height in Danish boys was flagged by the original research pass, not independently verified here).
Source: Kanwal 2017 review, citing Engel 2010, Cho 2010, Kim 2009, Park 2015, Environmental Research 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 US cohort, phthalates measured in mothers' urine during pregnancy were associated with poorer executive function and more aggressive and depressive-type behavior in their children ages 4-9 (Engel 2010).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cohort study; children were ages 4-9, not 5-9 as the video states; urine was measured from mothers generally during pregnancy, and this review does not specify third-trimester timing specifically; phthalate exposure was from all sources (diet, plastics, personal care), not fragrance specifically. The review reports Engel 2010's attention-related finding as not statistically significant (per the original research pass on this item). Separately, the 'later elevated ADHD symptoms' link comes from different cohorts (Cho 2010, Kim 2009, Park 2015) that measured children's OWN urine at ages 6-15, not their mothers' third-trimester urine — the video conflates two distinct sets of studies into one.
Source: Engel 2010, cited in Kanwal 2017 review, Environmental Research Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
Perfume, air fresheners, and dryer sheets carried the highest levels of fragrance chemicals and the phthalate DEP; the pooled perfume sample was 1.4% DEP by weight.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single pooled composite per category (Dodson 2012). The perfume DEP level is now independently supported by two other labs: FDA's Hubinger & Havery 2006 measured 0.55-3.9% DEP in individual fragrance products, and Health Canada's Koniecki 2011 (n=252, the largest of the three) measured DEP up to 2.6% in 70% of 30 fragrance products — three independent labs across two countries now bracket Dodson's 1.4% figure for perfume specifically. The air-freshener and dryer-sheet parts still rest on Dodson alone (Koniecki tested only cosmetic/personal-care products, no air fresheners or dryer sheets), so the combined claim stays moderate.
Source: Dodson 2012, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
Women who had used perfume in the previous day had nearly 3 times as much of a phthalate breakdown product (from diethyl phthalate, a chemical used to carry fragrance) in their urine as women who hadn't.
Moderate evidence: Single spot urine, 337 mostly white educated women; replicated by Braun 2014.
Source: Parlett 2013, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
The more personal care products a woman used, the higher her levels of diethyl phthalate; deodorant (2.8x), nail polish (2.1x) and hair spray (1.8x) users also had higher levels.
Moderate evidence: Cross-sectional association; one urine sample.
Source: Parlett 2013, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
The more personal care products a pregnant woman used in a day, the higher her urine levels of phthalates and parabens, rising step by step.
Moderate evidence: Association with self-reported use.
Source: Braun 2014, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Review of other studies
In US national biomonitoring, MEP, the breakdown product of the fragrance solvent DEP, was the most abundant phthalate in people's urine (average 181 ug/g creatinine).
Moderate evidence: NHANES data cited by a review; cite CDC primary; secondary citation of older NHANES data, cite the CDC report directly.
Source: Crinnion 2010, Alternative Medicine Review Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Animal study
The vapor from a single cologne contained at least twenty identifiable chemicals – limonene, linalool, linalyl acetate, alpha- and beta-pinene, terpinolene, citronellol, anethole, coumarin, diethyl phthalate among them – none of which appear on the label.
Moderate evidence: Qualitative GC/MS of one test atmosphere, recoveries unknown, isomers possibly unresolved; one unnamed product.
Source: Anderson & Anderson 1998, Archives of Environmental Health Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
In FDA's 2006 cosmetics survey, fragrance products carried the highest diethyl phthalate levels of any category tested (up to 3.9% by weight), and nail products carried the highest dibutyl phthalate levels (up to 6% by weight).
Moderate evidence: N=48 products, one purchasing round; category sizes as small as 1-9 products.
Source: Hubinger & Havery 2006, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
In a study of 164 pregnant women in New York City, the phthalate metabolites MEP and MnBP were detected in 100% of urine samples.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cohort (n=164), minority pregnant women in one US city, not nationally representative; the video's specific '95% of 100 people' figure is not itself confirmed anywhere in our evidence base, but the direction is right and, if anything, conservative — this and a second small cohort (33 breastfeeding North Carolina women, Hines 2009, c-bdc5cb74a2, 'nearly all' urine samples) both found detection at or near 100%, and MEP (DEP's metabolite) is separately confirmed as the most abundant phthalate in US biomonitoring (c-287b7bebca, Crinnion 2010, citing NHANES). No single graded claim states a national (NHANES) detection percentage in our evidence base.
Source: Just 2010 (or equivalent NYC pregnant-women cohort), Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
The fragrance-linked phthalate DEP was found in 78% of the hair products tested, and cyclosiloxanes, parabens, and DEP were found at the highest concentrations, including one anti-frizz product that was 38-46% cyclosiloxane by weight.
Moderate evidence: N=18 products; concentration in the product is not the same as absorbed dose or exposure.
Health effects / Review of other studies
In mouse, rat, and zebrafish studies, bisphenol A and phthalates such as DEHP promote weight gain by switching on the master fat-cell gene PPAR-gamma, boosting appetite-driving brain chemicals (neuropeptide Y and AgRP), and triggering low-grade inflammation in fat tissue, often at doses meant to mimic real-world human exposure.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
These are animal and cell-culture mechanisms; extrapolation to human obesity risk is not established, and effects vary by species, sex, dose, and life stage in ways not yet mapped for humans.
Source: Dalamaga 2024, International Journal of Molecular Sciences Link to this fact
Health effects / Review of other studies
A 2025 systematic review of 18 human studies found bisphenol A, phthalates, and the UV filter octocrylene positively associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in most (though not all) of the studies that tested them.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Observational case-control/cross-sectional studies with biomonitoring, not causal evidence; BPA alone had 8-10 positive studies against 2-4 null studies depending on how analogs are counted; most individual chemicals rest on only 1-5 studies.
Hidden ingredients / Review of other studies
A violet-water cologne that doctors reported as a lavender-oil exposure in a boy with breast growth declared no essential oil on its ingredient list, and an essential-oil industry group's lab analysis found none; it reported a synthetic fragrance allergen (alpha-isomethyl ionone), azo dyes, and diethyl phthalate instead. Go by the ingredient list of the actual product, not its scent name.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Industry-funded letter (Consortium Huiles Essentielles, Giroux & Orjubin 2020), results as prose with no concentrations, detection limits, lab or sample provenance; not independently confirmed. The label did not claim lavender, so this is not a mislabeling example.
Source: Braunstein & Braunstein 2023, touchREVIEWS in Endocrinology Industry-funded Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
In one of the best-known reports linking 'lavender' products to breast growth in children, the boy's violet-water cologne declared no essential oil on its ingredient list; the essential-oil industry's own analysis found none, but reported a synthetic fragrance allergen (alpha-isomethyl ionone), azo dyes, and diethyl phthalate, a fragrance solvent suspected of hormone disruption.
Moderate evidence: Industry-funded letter; GC-MS/LC-MS/MS results given as prose with no concentrations, detection limits, lab or sample provenance; not independently confirmed.
Source: Giroux & Orjubin 2020 (JCEM letter; Consortium Huiles Essentielles), The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Industry-funded Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
FDA's own testing of 48 consumer cosmetic products found the fragrance solvent diethyl phthalate (DEP) in all 5 fragrance products tested, at levels up to 38,663 parts per million (3.9% by weight), and in 27 of 48 products overall, though phthalate esters were named on the ingredient list of only some nail products, never on fragrance.
Moderate evidence: Single FDA laboratory, 48 products bought in the Washington DC area (~2003-05), method-validated HPLC-UV; concentration in the product, not absorbed dose.
Source: Hubinger & Havery 2006, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Animal study
GC-MS of the scented candle's emissions detected methylene chloride (2.71% of peak area, a carcinogen with two known toxic-metabolite pathways) and the phthalate DEHP (0.1%), neither of which would appear on a candle's fragrance or wax label.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Detected in headspace/combustion emissions, not necessarily added as ingredients; percentages are of total VOC peak area, not of candle mass, and the specific candle's ingredient list is not published.
Source: Mohamed et al. 2025, Frontiers in Public Health Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
FDA's 2010 follow-up testing of 84 consumer cosmetic products found the fragrance solvent diethyl phthalate (DEP) in all 11 fragrance products tested (up to 36,006 ug/g, about 3.6% by weight) and in 20 of 60 adult-use products overall, while dibutyl phthalate (DBP) was found only in nail products (11 of 24, up to 62,607 ug/g), even though phthalates carried in as part of 'fragrance' are not required to be named on the label.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single FDA laboratory follow-up survey, 84 products bought in or near Washington DC or online before August 2010 (exact purchase date not stated); HPLC-UV product concentration, not absorbed dose.
Source: Hubinger 2010, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
A 2007 NRDC test found one or more of five phthalate esters (DBP, DEP, DIBP, DIHP, DMP) in 12 of 14 US air fresheners, including some labeled all-natural or unscented, and none of the 12 positive products listed phthalates as an ingredient on the label.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Small sample (14 products), not independently replicated in this evidence base; NRDC's primary report is not yet a evidence base source. Nearly 20 years old; current formulations may differ.
Source: EPA 2007, citing NRDC 2007 Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
In the 2007 NRDC air-freshener test, diethyl phthalate (DEP) was the phthalate found at the highest concentrations: three samples at 360, 1,100 and 7,300 ppm, and six more samples at 6.3 ppm or less; di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), the only one of the five on California's Proposition 65 reproductive-toxicity list, was found at much lower levels (four samples under 1 ppm, one at 4.5 ppm).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Reported by EPA to more decimal/sample-level detail than the secondhand 2017 review citation already in our evidence base; NRDC's own report remains unverified as a evidence base primary.
Source: EPA 2007, citing NRDC 2007 Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Measured in people or real products
Diethyl phthalate (DEP), the phthalate most often found in fragrance products, most likely comes from the fragrance ingredient itself, where it functions as a solvent and fixative rather than from another use in the formulation.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
This is the authors' interpretive conclusion drawn from DEP's concentration pattern across product categories (highest in fragrance products, by far), not a direct mechanistic test of fragrance-longevity. The 'fixative' function (slowing evaporation of more volatile scent components, making scent last longer) is standard perfumery-formulation terminology, consistent across sources, but this specific single 2006 FDA study is the only one in our evidence base that states the fixative role explicitly; the fragrance-concentration finding itself is independently replicated by two other surveys (Koniecki 2011, Dodson 2012) already in our evidence base.
Source: Hubinger & Havery 2006, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Review of other studies
An FDA laboratory survey concluded that phthalate esters found in most cosmetic products most likely enter via the fragrance ingredient itself, where they function as a solvent/fixative rather than for some other purpose.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
This is the study authors' own interpretive conclusion (source attribution), not a direct measurement of fixative function or of scent longevity; it is consistent with, but does not by itself prove, the specific mechanism that phthalates make fragrance 'last longer'. Based on a single FDA survey (n=48 products, 2006), though its DEP findings are independently corroborated by later, larger surveys (Koniecki 2011, n=252).
Source: Hubinger & Havery 2006, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
The industry / Review of other studies
EPA's reviewers warned that replacing one phthalate with a close relative (DINP for DEHP, DIBP for DBP) should not be assumed to be safer.
Moderate evidence: Based on weaker data for the substitutes (fewer studies, lower exposures), not on evidence they are equally harmful.
Source: Radke 2018 (US EPA), Environment International Link to this fact
The industry / Measured in people or real products
The essential-oil industry's published defense of lavender oil in a child's breast-growth case rested on showing the child's cologne was synthetic fragrance containing a phthalate: that clears lavender oil, not the cologne.
Moderate evidence: Describes the letter's argument; one case, no dose, no biomarker; does not show the phthalate or anything else caused the breast growth.
Source: Giroux & Orjubin 2020 (JCEM letter; Consortium Huiles Essentielles), The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Industry-funded Link to this fact
The industry / Government agency
FDA's own 2006 testing concluded there was insufficient data to find a human health hazard from phthalate esters in cosmetics and took no regulatory action, even though the phthalates were already known to be common and concentrated in fragrance and nail products.
Moderate evidence: This is the regulator's own stated position at the time (2006), not a new toxicity finding; FDA said it would continue to monitor and could revisit if new hazard data emerged.
Source: Hubinger & Havery 2006, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
The industry / Measured in people or real products
Comparing this follow-up survey to FDA's original 2002-06 testing, 8 of 25 directly comparable cosmetic products no longer contained any phthalate ester, and nail products' any-phthalate detection rate fell from 6 of 6 to 11 of 24, evidence that some manufacturers reformulated to remove phthalate esters.
Moderate evidence: Category-level comparison across two separate market-basket surveys of not-identical product lots, not a matched before/after test of the same products.
Source: Hubinger 2010, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
The industry / Measured in people or real products
FDA's own follow-up survey found dibutyl phthalate (DBP) persisting in nail products at concentrations essentially unchanged from its earlier 2006 survey (max 62,607 vs 59,815 ug/g), even as the share of DBP-positive nail products fell, complicating the assumption that phthalates were fully phased out of US nail polish by 2010.
Moderate evidence: Single FDA lab's own two surveys of different, non-identical product lots each time, not a matched-brand or matched-lot before/after test.
Source: Hubinger 2010, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
The industry / Government agency
Twelve of the 28 public comments on the 2007 air-freshener petition came from air-freshener manufacturers and industry trade associations (including Reckitt Benckiser, SC Johnson, the Consumer Specialty Products Association, the American Chemistry Council's Phthalate Esters Panel, and the Fragrance Materials Association), all opposing every part of the petition and citing the fragrance industry's own self-regulatory bodies (RIFM, IFRA) as sufficient oversight.
Moderate evidence: Comment content as characterized by EPA, not independently verified against the original comment letters by this evidence base.
Source: EPA 2007 Link to this fact
What you can do / Measured in people or real products
Perfume was the strongest single predictor of diethyl phthalate exposure, so skipping perfume and fragranced personal care products is the most obvious way to lower it.
Moderate evidence: Association only; not tested as an intervention.
Source: Parlett 2013, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
What you can do / Measured in people or real products
Using fewer scented personal care products is likely to lower phthalate and paraben levels, because levels tracked the number of products used.
Moderate evidence: Association; not tested as an intervention here (see HERMOSA).
Source: Braun 2014, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
What you can do / Measured in people or real products
When 100 teenage girls swapped their usual personal care products for ones labeled free of phthalates, parabens, triclosan, and oxybenzone for just 3 days, levels of these chemicals in their urine fell by 27-45%.
Moderate evidence: No control arm, 100 Latina girls in one town, 3 days, summer.
Source: Harley 2016, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
What you can do / Measured in people or real products
The phthalate most linked to fragrance (diethyl phthalate) fell by 27% in 3 days when girls avoided products listing fragrance unless labeled phthalate-free.
Moderate evidence: Multi-product swap; fragrance effect not isolated; other DEP sources remain.
Source: Harley 2016, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
What you can do / Measured in people or real products
Because diethyl phthalate (DEP) was found in essentially all fragranced cosmetic products FDA tested (5 of 5 in 2006, 11 of 11 in 2010) but is never named on the label when added via 'fragrance,' choosing unscented or fragrance-free products is a more reliable way to avoid it than reading a fragranced product's ingredient list.
Moderate evidence: Based on FDA's own two product-content surveys, not a study of consumer avoidance behavior or of what ingredients replace DEP in reformulated products.
Source: Hubinger 2010, Journal of Cosmetic Science Link to this fact
What you can do / Government agency
Because no federal rule requires air fresheners to disclose their full ingredients, a consumer cannot rely on an 'all-natural' or 'unscented' label to rule out the presence of phthalates or other undisclosed fragrance constituents.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Applies to the 2007 dataset and to the current absence of a federal labeling mandate reported elsewhere in our evidence base (FDA, EPA Safer Choice pages); does not mean every unlabeled air freshener contains phthalates today.
Source: EPA 2007 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In 130 Danish and Finnish mothers, phthalate breakdown products were reported in essentially every breast milk sample (95-100% for each of the six measured) — but an independent, more contamination-controlled US study (Hines 2009) found the analogous class of monoester phthalate metabolites in under 10% of milk samples from a separate cohort, and declined to report its own milk hydrolytic-monoester data (which would include MEP) as likely contamination-inflated.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
1997-2001 samples; composite home-collected milk; phosphoric acid was not added at collection 'due to logistics' (this page's own Methods/limitations), a known contamination risk for hydrolytic monoesters. Hines 2009 (EPA/CDC, tighter contamination controls) found the analogous metabolite class in <10% of milk samples and withheld its own milk hydrolytic-monoester data on contamination grounds. US EPA systematic review (Radke 2018) separately excluded this study's milk data as a critically deficient exposure matrix.
Source: Main 2006, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Baby boys whose mothers' milk contained more dibutyl phthalate had slightly lower free testosterone at 3 months (about 15% lower per 10-fold rise). For diethyl phthalate, the fragrance phthalate, the link was with higher SHBG, and its free-testosterone trend was not significant. These are correlations in 96 boys, not proof of harm.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
MBP–free T r = −0.22 (p = 0.033); mEP–free T r = −0.19 (p = 0.07, NS). US EPA review excluded this study (breast milk critically deficient as an exposure matrix for short-chain phthalates) and rated infant-testosterone evidence indeterminate (Lin 2011: MEP r = −0.10). 46% of Danish mothers used breast pumps.
Source: Main 2006, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In one early, small US study, boys in the highest phthalate group had about 4 to 10 times the odds (3.8-10.2) of a shorter-than-expected anogenital distance than the lowest group, depending on the phthalate. A larger (N=753) follow-up by the same group found much smaller effect sizes for the one phthalate class (DEHP) that replicated, and did not test comparable categorical odds ratios.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Single small cohort with very wide CIs (MEP OR 3.8, 1.03-13.9); US EPA rated this cohort's AGD data (extended n=106) low confidence. The DEP (MEP) part did not replicate in three larger cohorts, including the same group's own N=753 TIDES follow-up (Swan 2015), which also found smaller continuous effect sizes for the metabolites that did replicate (DEHP: beta -1.12 to -1.43 in TIDES vs -3.50 to -5.13 in this cohort, per Swan 2015's Discussion), consistent with lower current-day exposure. Quote as one small study's result only; prefer the EPA review or Swan 2015 for general claims.
Source: Swan 2005, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Danish–Finnish study (hormones measured in 96 of 130 baby boys), some phthalates in mothers' breast milk went with hormone changes at 3 months that point to weaker male-hormone action (higher SHBG; lower free testosterone for dibutyl phthalate only).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Association; hormones in 96 boys; mEP (DEP) free-T link not significant (p = 0.07); 46% of Danish mothers used breast pumps; US EPA review excluded this study (milk critically deficient as exposure matrix) and rated infant testosterone indeterminate. Cite the primary, not the thesis, which inverted the direction.
Source: Main 2006 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Prenatal exposure to phthalates in synthetic candle fragrance can promote permanent, irreversible changes to fetal immune-system development and contribute to childhood asthma and allergies.
Weak evidence: Secondhand citation of a general phthalate-immune mechanism paper, not a candle-specific exposure or outcome measurement; no dose given for candle-derived phthalate exposure.
Source: Singh 2023, Environmental Science & Technology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Studies of pregnant women's phthalate exposure and their children's later weight disagree in direction: one study linked higher maternal DEHP and DINP metabolites to a greater chance of excess infant weight gain, while another found children born to mothers with the highest DEHP exposure actually had slightly lower body fat at birth than those with the lowest exposure.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Results vary by specific phthalate compound, child sex, and study design; the direction of effect (more fat vs. less fat) is inconsistent across the available prospective cohorts, so no reliable direction of effect can be claimed for maternal phthalate exposure and infant body composition.
Source: Dalamaga 2024, International Journal of Molecular Sciences Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Review of other studies
A 2022 review of 37 studies found that phthalates, parabens, aldehydes, and aluminum salts are the contaminants most often reported in perfumes, colognes, and related scented products.
Weak evidence: Non-quantitative review with factual slips; cite primary studies for numbers.
Source: Kazemi 2022, Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
In the same 33 breastfeeding women, urinary MEP (the metabolite of DEP, the fragrance phthalate) was on average about 57 times higher in women who "often" used nail polish than in women who never did (2,874 vs. 50.5 micrograms per liter).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Small pilot study (n=33); frequency-group sizes not reported; perfume/cologne use was not asked about, so fragrance products cannot be separated from nail polish as a source; the difference was significant only on untransformed means, and the authors themselves suggest nail-polish users may also use more perfume and other DEP-containing products.
Source: Hines 2009, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Health effects / Hypothesis
A 2019 minireview proposes that frequent, long-term burning of scented candles in poorly ventilated rooms may increase bladder cancer risk, based on chemicals in candle emissions (PAHs, benzo[a]pyrene, formaldehyde, phthalates) that are separately linked to bladder cancer via occupational and other non-candle exposure routes.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
No case-control, cohort, or biomonitoring study has ever tested candle use against bladder cancer; the authors' own conclusion calls for that study to be done. This is a narrative minireview with no original data.
Source: Adamowicz 2019, Cancer Prevention Research Link to this fact
Health effects / Review of other studies
Higher urinary MEHHP (a DEHP phthalate metabolite) was correlated with increased urothelial cancer risk in patients with chronic kidney disease; phthalate esters have also been identified in synthetic candle fragrances.
Weak evidence: Single cohort restricted to chronic kidney disease patients, not the general population; not a candle-exposure study; secondhand citation of Huang & Chou 2018.
Source: Adamowicz 2019, Cancer Prevention Research 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
Indoor air / Review of other studies
Diethyl phthalate (DEP), the phthalate most consistently tied to fragrance use, has been detected in household dust in a German study, alongside the plasticizer phthalates DEHP, DINP, and DBP.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Relayed secondhand through Crinnion 2010, a narrative review in a naturopathic-medicine journal already flagged elsewhere in this evidence base for reproducing outdated/imprecise figures; the underlying German house-dust study itself is not in our evidence base and has not been checked directly. Presence in dust does not establish that fragrance products (rather than other DEP sources, e.g. plastics) are the dust's source, and does not establish an ongoing-exposure mechanism or a health effect.
Source: German house-dust study, via Crinnion 2010, Alternative Medicine Review Link to this fact
What you can do / Review of other studies
Because diet is the main route of human exposure to BPA and phthalates from food packaging, avoiding microwaving food in plastic, cutting back on canned food, and choosing glass, stainless-steel, or aluminum containers instead of plastic can reduce dietary exposure to these obesogenic chemicals.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
This reduces measured chemical exposure; no trial has tested whether making this switch actually changes body weight or obesity risk in people. The review infers this from exposure routes; it cites no intervention study measuring the reduction.
Source: Dalamaga 2024, International Journal of Molecular Sciences Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.