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 / Measured in people or real products
Three in four children's cosmetics (295 of 398, 74.1%) on sale in a Brazilian city listed "parfum/fragrance" on the label, including 90% of children's shampoos and 79% of baby wet wipes.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Label count only, one city, lower bound. Scope also excludes perfume/cologne, which 65.9% of children in the same city used (Melo 2020). A US survey of a broader category mix of personal-care products (Bonchak 2018, n=533) found a lower fragrance-keyword prevalence (48%), and Denmark's named-allergen tally found 53.8% (Botvid 2023) — country, category mix, and label-counting method all move this figure, so 74.1% should not be read as a universal children's-cosmetics rate.
Source: Uber 2024, Jornal de Pediatria (Rio de Janeiro) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
As of 2019, the evidence that lavender or tea tree oil causes breast growth in young children consisted only of case reports: 11 children described in detail in 4 papers, with no controlled study.
Moderate evidence: Systematic review of case reports; undercounts (one included paper reports ~20 more cases in clinic tallies).
Source: Hawkins 2020, Complementary Therapies in Medicine Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Danish/multi-country test of 25 children's cosmetics and cosmetic-toys, all 7 hydro-alcoholic children's fragrance products (5 eau de toilette, 1 eau de parfum, 1 roll-on deodorant) contained the allergen geraniol, and a separate children's toy-cosmetic perfume-blending kit's lilac essence contained cinnamic alcohol at 3.7%, about 4.6x (the paper's abstract states "by a factor of 5") the IFRA guideline of 0.8%.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Now sourced from the primary study (Rastogi 1999; n=25 products, Denmark/Germany/England/Sweden, 1997-98) rather than relayed via a review. Single small study, not replicated: strength stays moderate per the grading rule. The geraniol finding is for regular children's fragrance products, not toys; only 1 of 3 toy-perfume-set essences had the elevated cinnamic alcohol — the review's original "cosmetic-toy perfumes" framing conflated the two.
Source: Pastor-Nieto 2021 (Rastogi 1999), Current Treatment Options in Allergy Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
In a Brazilian hospital survey, caregivers said two in three children aged 14 and under (182 of 276, median age 4) wore perfume.
Moderate evidence: One Curitiba tertiary-hospital clinic sample, 2015-16; 'perfume' undefined; no frequency, age, or sex breakdown; count identical to children's shampoo (possible copy error).
Source: Melo 2020, Revista Paulista de Pediatria Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
A quarter of Brazilian children in a hospital survey (71 of 276) already wore make-up, starting at a median age of 4, usually because the child asked for it (75% of users).
Moderate evidence: One hospital sample; caregiver report; frequency not asked.
Source: Melo 2020, Revista Paulista de Pediatria Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Danish registry of 1,179 cosmetics marketed for children, more than half (634, 53.8%) listed perfume or a named fragrance allergen, and nearly half (550, 46.6%) named at least one of the 26 EU-listed fragrance allergens.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Label tally from a user-scanned consumer-app registry (2015-22), not market-weighted; 'fragranced' includes products naming only benzyl alcohol (often a preservative); sub-threshold allergens not declared.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
93% of children's facial-care products in a Danish registry (80 of 86, almost all lip balms) listed fragrance, averaging nearly two named fragrance allergens each.
Moderate evidence: Label data; n=86; registry sample.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a US label survey of 533 personal care products marketed for babies and children, 48% (255/533) contained a fragrance-category allergen and 55% (294/533) contained at least one of eight screened contact allergens.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single US retail platform (Drugstore.com/Walgreens), one 2018 snapshot; fragrance is a ~20-keyword composite tally, not a per-chemical breakdown; no chemical verification of labels.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Cheaper baby and children's personal care products contain significantly more contact allergens than pricier ones: products with two or more screened allergens averaged $1.39 per ounce versus $4.35 per ounce for products with none.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Correlation only, no mechanism tested; a similar but non-significant trend was found in adult moisturizers (Xu 2017), so the effect size and significance may not generalize beyond baby products.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In an ordinary primary-school classroom, children were exposed to ultrafine-particle bursts reaching 140,000 particles per cubic centimeter during art activities, the highest classroom particle level measured among the wiki's school-exposure studies, with no health outcome measured.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Exposure measurement only; no symptom, lung-function, or biomarker data were collected; one school; the specific art-material source was not identified (only 4 of ~30 paints/glues were tested, none containing limonene).
Source: Morawska 2009, Environmental Science & Technology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a 1999 European lab test, all 7 children's hydro-alcoholic fragrance products (eau de toilette, eau de parfum, roll-on deodorant) contained the allergen geraniol, and a children's toy perfume-blending kit's "lilac essence" contained cinnamic alcohol at 3.7%, about 4.6x (the paper's abstract states "by a factor of 5") the industry's own 0.8% safety guideline.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
N=25 products total, n=7 hydro-alcoholic products and n=1 toy item for the two headline numbers; single small study (Denmark/Germany/England/Sweden, 1997-98), not replicated for this specific product set.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Everyday children's shampoos, shower gels, creams, and lotions rarely contained fragrance-mix allergens, cinnamic alcohol, cinnamic aldehyde, and isoeugenol were absent from every sample tested, while the notable allergen exposure was concentrated in perfume-type products and one toy.
Moderate evidence: N=5 shampoos/shower gels, n=4 creams/lotions; small sample.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Two no-lye hair relaxer kits marketed for children had the highest measured levels of chemicals banned in EU cosmetics or listed under California's Proposition 65 (DEHP, nonylphenol, o-phenylphenol, diethanolamine) of any products tested in this study.
Moderate evidence: N=3 relaxer kits (2 marketed for children); no health outcome measured in children who used these products.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Czech birth cohort of 3,411 children (ELSPAC-CZ), each 1-SD increase in an 18-product household chemical exposure score measured at 6 months raised the odds of intermediate-onset transient wheeze (adjusted OR 1.27), early-onset persistent wheeze (adjusted OR 1.36) and intermediate-onset persistent wheeze (adjusted OR 1.23) through age 5, and those persistent wheeze phenotypes carried 5-8x higher odds of a doctor-diagnosed asthma by age 7 (pediatrician records, not self-report).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single prospective cohort; exposure and wheeze through age 5 are maternal self-report (only the school-age asthma outcome is medically ascertained); the asthma link runs through the wheeze phenotype, not directly from exposure to asthma, and the paper's own direct exposure-to-asthma model was underpowered. Independently replicates the Canadian CHILD cohort (Parks 2020), which together raises the combined wheeze/asthma claim to strong (see regrade on src-2024-cleaning-products-chemistry-indoor-air-quality-health).
Source: Mikeš 2019, Science of the Total Environment Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
In a large UK birth cohort (ALSPAC, n=7,019), each 1-unit increase in a composite score of prenatal household chemical product use (11 products, frequency-weighted) raised the odds of persistent wheeze through age 3.5 by 6% (adjusted OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.09), and children of mothers in the top decile of use were more than twice as likely to wheeze persistently as those in the bottom decile (adjusted OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.2-4.4); transient early wheeze and late onset wheeze showed no significant adjusted association.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Observational; both exposure (product-use frequency) and outcome (parent-reported wheeze) are questionnaire-based, with no objective air-chemistry or clinical measurement. The persistent-wheeze specificity (no significant transient-early or late-onset association) is the same phenotype-specific pattern later independently replicated in the Czech ELSPAC-CZ cohort (Mikes 2019) and, more broadly, in the Canadian CHILD cohort (Parks 2020). Graded moderate (orchestrator 2026-09-27): one cohort, self-report on both sides; the cross-cohort replication is credited on the pooled four-cohort claim instead.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Belgian study of 234 schoolchildren aged 10-13, those living in homes cleaned with chlorine bleach at least once a week had a much lower rate of doctor-diagnosed or test-confirmed asthma than other children (3.8% vs 13.5%; adjusted odds ratio 0.10, 95% CI 0.02-0.51).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cross-sectional study, one city, self-reported weekly-or-more bleach use with no dose or brand detail; a large adjusted OR from a small event count (3 vs 21 cases) gives a wide confidence interval, and residual confounding by household type cannot be fully excluded despite adjustment.
Source: Nickmilder, Carbonnelle & Bernard 2007, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In the same study, children in bleach-cleaned homes were also less likely to have doctor-diagnosed eczema (3.8% vs 14.1%, adjusted OR 0.22) and to be sensitized to indoor aeroallergens, especially house dust mite (adjusted OR 0.53 and 0.43 respectively), but showed no difference in sensitization to pollen allergens.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Same single-study, single-city limitations as the asthma finding; sensitization was measured by serum allergen-specific IgE, a marker of sensitization, not of clinical allergic disease.
Source: Nickmilder, Carbonnelle & Bernard 2007, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
The limonene-asthma association was substantially stronger in children than adults in this Canadian national survey: children (6-16y) had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.46 (95% CI 1.45-1.47) for asthma per 100% increase in indoor limonene versus 1.16 (95% CI 1.15-1.16) in adults (17-79y), and the FeNO increase was about twice as large in children (2.89%, 95% CI 1.88-4.43) as in adults (1.44%, 95% CI 1.16-1.79).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional; the authors' proposed explanations (more eosinophilic airway inflammation in children, more time spent at home, higher measured limonene in the younger age group) are speculative, not tested directly in this study.
Source: Dales & Cakmak 2019, Environmental Pollution Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
No controlled human exposure studies investigating whether children, elderly people, or smokers are more sensitive to irritant chemicals than healthy young adults could be found in the literature through August 2020.
Moderate evidence: Absence of studies, not evidence of no difference; the same evidence gap for children is documented in more detail by a later 2024 review.
Source: Mangelsdorf et al. 2021, Int J Hyg Environ Health, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Children who received benzalkonium-chloride-containing continuous nebulized albuterol in this cohort were started on a significantly higher initial albuterol dose (median 15, later 20 mg/h in the critical-asthma sub-analysis) than children who received preservative-free albuterol (median 10-15 mg/h), a difference that persisted even after restricting to a diagnostically matched critical-asthma sub-group.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Dosing was clinician-directed (per intensivist discretion), not protocolized or blinded, so the dose difference itself may reflect practice patterns around the two formulations rather than a physiological effect of benzalkonium chloride, and could independently confound the study's length-of-stay comparison.
Source: Al-Subu et al. 2023, Respir Care 68(6):734-739, Respiratory Care Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
When the comparison was restricted to children over age 2 with a critical-asthma diagnosis specifically (n=160), there was no significant difference between the benzalkonium-chloride and preservative-free albuterol groups in PICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, or any secondary outcome except the (still higher) initial albuterol dose.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Sub-analysis sample is smaller (n=160) than the full cohort (n=266), reducing power to detect a true difference; a null result here is consistent with, but does not prove, no effect.
Source: Al-Subu et al. 2023, Respir Care 68(6):734-739, Respiratory Care Link to this fact
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
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 / 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 / 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 / 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 / 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
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
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
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 / 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 / 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
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
A 2020 US EPA systematic review of 17 informative studies, mostly measuring phthalates in pregnant women's urine, graded the evidence for effects on children's IQ, motor skills, behavior, ADHD, autistic traits and infant behavior as only 'slight' or 'indeterminate' for six common phthalates, with one exception: BBP and motor development in girls, rated 'moderate'.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Authors are US EPA scientists (no industry funding); search ended March 2019; exposure is urinary phthalate metabolites from all sources, not fragrance; 'slight' is not 'safe', and the authors say the nulls partly reflect measurement limits.
Source: Radke 2020, Environment International Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Eight US child-health researchers (Project TENDR) concluded in 2021 that prenatal exposure to certain phthalates can impair child brain development and raise the risk of learning, attention and behavior problems, and called for removing ortho-phthalates from products that reach pregnant women, infants and children.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Expert-consensus essay, not a systematic review (no search or grading); several authors produced cohorts they cite; the authors admit findings differ across phthalates, sexes and directions; no industry funding or declared conflicts.
Source: Engel 2021, American Journal of Public Health Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
Children aged 6-11 who used lotion weekly had about 3 times the urinary methylparaben and propylparaben of children who seldom used it (13.5 vs 4.5 and 4.2 vs 1.35 micrograms per gram creatinine), and children's paraben levels were about 5 times lower than their mothers'.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
80 children with paraben data, mother-reported use, creatinine-adjusted comparisons between children and adults need caution; the study measures exposure only, with no health outcome.
Source: Larsson 2014, Environment International Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a New York City study of 328 mothers and children, higher late-pregnancy urinary levels of two butyl phthalates (DnBP and DiBP breakdown products) went with about 2.7 lower IQ points per log unit at age 7, and about 7 points lower in the top versus bottom quarter of exposure.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cohort, one spot urine, observational (authors decline causal language); EPA grades DBP/DiBP cognition evidence only slight; DnBP/DiBP are plastics, food-contact and some personal-care sources.
Children and pregnancy / Animal study
The Endocrine Society's 2015 statement says fetal and infant exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals can cause latent disease later in life, and that human studies support lower IQ and cognitive deficits in children exposed prenatally to certain thyroid-disrupting chemicals.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
No compound-specific numbers; the authors note exposure is 'not always correlated' with lower thyroid hormone in humans, and that serum thyroid hormone may not reflect tissue action.
Source: Gore et al. 2015, Endocr Rev 36(6):593-602, Endocrine Reviews Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Dutch birth cohort of 3,873 mother-child pairs, children of the 127 mothers with low free thyroxine but normal TSH in early pregnancy (hypothyroxinemia) had about 7% higher mother-rated ADHD-symptom scores at age 8 (95% CI 0.3% to 15%), after adjustment for confounders.
Moderate evidence: One cohort, one thyroid blood draw at about week 14, borderline P (.04), mother-reported symptom scale rather than diagnosis; association only. No chemicals were measured.
Source: Modesto 2015 (Generation R), JAMA Pediatrics Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
An expert-panel model estimated that prenatal organophosphate-pesticide exposure costs the EU about EUR 146 billion a year (2010 euros) in children's lost IQ and intellectual disability, with the panel judging causation 70-100% probable.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
A modeled, expert-judgment figure built from US cohort slopes applied to EU urinary DAP levels (nonspecific marker, about 1 week of exposure); same authors as the 2016 update; funded by the Endocrine Society and three foundations; sensitivity range EUR 46.8-195 billion.
Source: Bellanger et al. 2015, J Clin Endocrinol Metab, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
A 2019 systematic review of 28 studies (16 on maternal thyroid status in pregnancy) concluded there is moderate evidence that mothers' thyroid problems in pregnancy go with more ADHD symptoms in their children, some evidence for children treated early for congenital hypothyroidism, and little for newborn thyroid levels.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Authors say most estimates were small and imprecise and limitations prevent strong conclusions; observational, mostly single thyroid measurements; thyroid status only, no chemical exposure measured.
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a California cohort of 334 children followed from the womb to age 16, most tests of IQ, executive function, attention and behavior were unrelated to phthalate levels in the mother's pregnancy urine; the authors called the results 'predominantly null'.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
One cohort of low-income Mexican-American families; two spot urines per pregnancy (poor reproducibility, ICC 0.11-0.33) likely bias toward the null, so nulls are not proof of safety; no multiple-comparison correction.
Source: Hyland 2019 (CHAMACOS), Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a South African birth cohort of 545 mother-child pairs, mothers' second-trimester urinary levels of nine phenols (BPA, BPS, parabens, triclosan, benzophenone-3, pentachlorophenol) were not linked to children's Bayley cognitive scores at age 2, either one at a time or as a mixture.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cohort, one spot urine and one outcome age; 0.18-61% of samples below detection depending on compound; limited power; no creatinine adjustment reported. Not fragrance ingredients except as personal-care co-exposures.
Source: Zhou 2025, Environmental Research Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a US birth-cohort analysis of about 1,200 children (ECHO), eight phenols measured in pregnant women's urine (methylparaben, propylparaben, BPA, BPS, benzophenone-3, triclosan, and two dichlorophenols), taken together as a mixture, were not associated with the children's parent-reported sleep problems, disturbance or daytime sleep impairment at ages 4-8.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Observational, parent-rated outcomes, urine averaged over pregnancy with no trimester resolution, limited covariate set, subsamples as small as 142 for impairment; a null here does not rule out small or timing-specific effects. None of the compounds is a fragrance ingredient.
Source: Geiger 2025, Frontiers in Pediatrics Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
EU food-safety scientists reviewed the largest UK trial of food colors and sodium benzoate in children and called it 'limited evidence' of a small effect on activity and attention, not seen for both drink mixtures at both ages (3 and 8-9 years).
Moderate evidence: Agency opinion on one trial; the primary numbers are graded on the McCann 2007 page. Panel also lists inconsistency across age, sex, mixture and observer type.
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The trial gave children 4-20% of the acceptable daily intake of each color (sodium benzoate 36-60%), and the Panel judged such exposures plausible for children eating brightly colored sweets or drinking brightly colored soft drinks.
Moderate evidence: Exposure estimates rest on unpublished Irish survey data and maximum-level scenarios; Panel could not estimate the share of children exposed to a combination on any given day.
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Rising counts of ADHD diagnoses are not by themselves evidence that more children have ADHD or that new exposures are causing it: in Sweden the diagnosis rate rose fivefold while the extreme-end symptom rate stayed roughly flat.
Moderate evidence: Does not show chemicals have no effect on individual children's ADHD risk; the study did not test causes of the diagnosis rise; milder symptom levels did rise slightly.
Source: Rydell et al. 2018, J Child Psychol Psychiatry, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In the 2022 US National Survey of Children's Health, 11.4% of children aged 3-17 (about 7.1 million) had ever been told by a health provider that they had ADHD, up from 9.8% in 2016-2019.
Moderate evidence: Figures relayed by a commentary on the CDC report, not a primary analysis; parent-reported diagnosis, unverified; a rise in diagnosis is not a rise in the trait.
Source: Chronis-Tuscano 2024, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In the 2022 US survey, 30.1% of children with current ADHD received no treatment (23% in 2016), and adolescents and children in non-English-speaking households were least likely to be treated.
Moderate evidence: Parent-reported, relayed second-hand from the CDC report.
Source: Chronis-Tuscano 2024, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In national parent surveys, the share of US children aged 3-17 who had ever been diagnosed with a mental, behavioral or developmental disorder rose from 25.3% in 2016 to 27.7% in 2021, led by anxiety, depression, learning disability, developmental delay and speech/language disorders.
Moderate evidence: Parent-reported lifetime diagnosis in the CDC/HRSA National Survey of Children's Health (n=193,877); response rates 37-43%; shows diagnosis, not exposure or cause.
Source: Leeb 2024, Preventing Chronic Disease Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
ADHD diagnosis (about 10% of US children in parent surveys) did not show a statistically significant rise over 2016-2021: 9.9% to 10.6%, annual change 1.3% (95% CI -0.6 to 3.4).
Moderate evidence: Parent-reported lifetime diagnosis, linear trend over six survey years; a non-significant trend is not proof of no change, and the survey cannot separate awareness from incidence.
Source: Leeb 2024, Preventing Chronic Disease Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.