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.
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
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.