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
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 / 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
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
More frequent perfume use tracked higher urinary MEP in pregnant women in a clear dose-response pattern.
Moderate evidence: N=128 subset; exposure marker only, no health outcome.
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 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 / Self-reported survey
In a random sample of Swedish teenagers aged 13-19, about 1 in 6 (15.6%) said they were bothered by strong odors such as perfume, cleaning agents, or flower scents, most often affecting the nose.
Moderate evidence: Single-item self-report; general odor sensitivity, not fragranced-product-specific; one Swedish town.
Source: Andersson 2008, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health 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 101 Swedish first-time mothers tested over seven years, women who used perfume once a week or more had significantly higher levels of the musk chemical galaxolide (HHCB) in their breast milk than women who used it less often.
Moderate evidence: Product-use data from a N=44 subset; cross-sectional association, not an intervention; adjusted for sampling year.
Source: Lignell 2008, Environmental Science & Technology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Mothers who used perfumed laundry detergent had significantly higher levels of the musk chemical tonalide (AHTN) in their breast milk than mothers who used unscented detergent.
Moderate evidence: Product-use data from a N=44 subset; cross-sectional association, not an intervention; adjusted for sampling year.
Source: Lignell 2008, Environmental Science & Technology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
A deodorant vapo-spray labeled "perfume for babies" in this 1996 European sample contained 14 of 21 tested fragrance substances at levels up to 1640 ppm, including 4 fragrance-mix allergens.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
A single product, not a category survey; the authors note sensitization is rarely seen in the first 2-3 years of life, but warn that early exposure to established contact allergens may cause problems later.
Source: Rastogi et al. 1998, Contact Dermatitis 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 / Measured in people or real products
French parents applied just as much eau de toilette/perfume to babies aged 0-3 per application (mean 370 mg, 95th percentile 695 mg, n=48) as adults applied to themselves (mean 254-262 mg, 95th percentile 586-617 mg) — and nearly a quarter (24%) of parents sprayed it directly onto the baby's skin rather than only onto clothing.
Moderate evidence: Small baby subgroup (n=48); amount reflects supervised single-application weighing, not habitual daily practice.
Source: Ficheux et al. 2016 (amount data), Food and Chemical Toxicology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
The review's one 'diethyl phthalate' preterm-birth result (OR 1.36, 1.06-1.76) comes from phthalate-containing prescription drugs taken late in pregnancy, not from perfume or cosmetics.
Moderate evidence: Single Danish registry study (Broe 2019) relayed secondhand; the review says the association was 'mainly due to DEP'.
Source: Almeida-Toledano 2024, Science of The Total Environment 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 / Review of other studies
In the Los Angeles air basin in 2005, consumer products such as hair spray, cleaners, and perfumes were the second-largest human-made source of organic gases by weight (118.7 metric tons a day), behind only passenger cars, according to California's air regulator.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Regulatory inventory, 2005 snapshot; includes non-fragranced products and solvents. Direction confirmed by measurement in a second city: NYC 2018 VCP VOC ~1.5x fossil fuels by mass, tracer-verified (Coggon 2021).
Source: Chen & Luo 2012, Atmospheric Environment Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Review of other studies
Perfumes and colognes alone released about 2.5 metric tons of organic gases a day into Los Angeles air in 2005, not counting fragrance in cleaners, air fresheners, or hair spray.
Moderate evidence: Inventory estimate for one CARB category.
Source: Chen & Luo 2012, Atmospheric Environment Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
In a lab experiment, women still learned to react differently to two women's body odors when both wore the same perfume: perfume did not stop people telling individuals apart by smell.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
46 women, 4 donors, custom low-dose perfume, conditioning as an indirect measure; no perfume x odor interaction tested. Now corroborated on the 'not abolished' floor claim by a much larger, direct primary test: Allen, Havlíček & Roberts 2015 (n=427, triangle test) found body-odor discrimination stayed above chance in all fragrance conditions (all p<0.001), though it fell significantly with fragrance and fell to chance for one specific subgroup (female donor odor + an unfamiliar assigned fragrance, 0.30-0.36 vs 0.33 chance) — so treat this as 'fragrance dampens but does not generally abolish discrimination', not as 'perfume has no effect'.
Fragrance is everywhere / Review of other studies
Fragrance is not only in perfume: dermatologists list it in makeup, shampoo, sunscreen, toothpaste, mouthwash, wipes, dish soap, detergent, air fresheners, cleaners, plastics, rubber, glue, paint, and waxes, and one Belgian survey found fragrance in 10% of topical medicines (66 different fragrance substances).
Moderate evidence: Qualitative list (de Groot 2020); the 10% is Nardelli 2009, Belgium.
Fragrance is everywhere / Self-reported survey
In a 1995 population-based telephone survey of 4,046 California adults, 15.9% said they were 'allergic or unusually sensitive to everyday chemicals' (like cleaning supplies, paints, perfumes, or soaps) and 6.3% reported a doctor's diagnosis of environmental illness or multiple chemical sensitivity.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Self-report only, no clinical verification of diagnosis or symptoms; California-specific, not national; the study's own authors take no position on whether this reflects a real physiologic condition or societal apprehension about chemicals.
Source: Kreutzer, Neutra & Lashuay 1999, American Journal of Epidemiology Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Other evidence
More than 2,000 chemical substances, of which 300 to 400 are of natural origin, are used across the fragrance industry, and a single perfume can contain from a few to several hundred individual fragrance materials.
Moderate evidence: Industry-wide chemical count from a single review citing an industry-adjacent source (ref 10); see the broader chemical-count provenance problem.
Source: de Groot 2020, Dermatitis 31(1):13-35, Dermatitis® Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Advocacy group testing
The UV filter ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, found in several of the tested perfumes, and limonene, one of the most common fragrance ingredients, are both flagged by this report as environmentally problematic; the EU classifies limonene as very toxic to aquatic life.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
The water-contamination claim for ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate specifically is supported in the report only by a citation to a review of a different, though related, UV filter (oxybenzone); however, an independent peer-reviewed marine-ecotoxicology review (Hodge et al. 2025) now corroborates the general pattern that organic UV filters including EHMC are detected in marine water, sediment, and biota worldwide (ng/L-mg/L), including remote regions with no direct use (Antarctica, the Arctic), and lists EHMC as the third-most-studied organic UV filter in that literature.
Source: Tegengif 2022 Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
The study's own protocol lists 'hygiene products (e.g., deodorant sprays; aftershave lotions; perfumes; cosmetics; insect repellents)' alongside mouthwash as products that contain or may contain ethanol, and had participants avoid them as confounding ethanol sources.
Moderate evidence: This is a study-design control list, not a measurement of ethanol content or absorption from perfumes/cosmetics specifically.
Source: Reisfield 2021, Journal of Analytical Toxicology Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Other evidence
In a 2013 national survey of 7,131 French people, two-thirds of adult women (67%) and nearly half of adult men (47%) used perfume in the past year, applying it close to once a day on average.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cross-sectional French survey using categorical 12-month recall, not a weighed diary; frequency for very-frequent products may be underestimated (the scale capped at twice-daily).
Source: Ficheux et al. 2015, Food and Chemical Toxicology Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Self-reported survey
The most commonly named problem odors among migraine patients in this German clinic sample were sweet perfumes, food odors, and cigarette smoke, with sweet perfumes the single most frequently named odor across every phase of the migraine cycle (approx. 36% of patients named it for osmophobia in general, read from Fig. 1).
Moderate evidence: Fig. 1 percentages are approximate, read from a bar chart, not printed as exact table values.
Source: Gossrau 2022, The Journal of Headache and Pain Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Self-reported survey
In two US national telephone surveys (2002-03 and 2005-06, about 1,057 adults each), about 3 in 10 adults (30.5% on average) said being next to someone wearing a scented product such as perfume or aftershave is irritating.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Self-reported irritation, not a clinical outcome; two surveys by the same authors; the question offered 'irritating or appealing' and only the irritating share is reported. Landline-era phone samples; no response rate given.
Source: Caress & Steinemann 2009, Journal of Environmental Health Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Measured in people or real products
Because most cosmetics contain fragrance, the dermatologists noted that fragrance allergy is not limited to fragrance products: fragrance ingredients were the commonest allergen group even though perfumes and colognes were only 7% of reactions.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Authors' inference from a selected series; 39 reactions were to unspecified fragrance and 77 to individually identified fragrance ingredients, with the 77 not reproducible from the printed table.
Source: Eiermann 1982, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology Link to this fact
Fragrance is everywhere / Review of other studies
Fragrance chemicals used in sunscreens, soaps and perfumes (amyl, hexyl and benzyl salicylate and three trade-name aroma chemicals) were measured in wastewater and coastal seawater at an Antarctic research station at low ng/L levels, about 2 to 54 ng/L.
Moderate evidence: One source study and one station; no toxicity, removal or risk data for these compounds; no synthetic musks measured.
Source: Balakrishna 2023 (review), Environmental Research Link to this fact
Green, natural and unscented / Journalism
Perfumers themselves say every perfume blends synthetic and natural materials: "As all perfumers, I create perfume formulas with both synthetic and natural perfumery raw materials" (a Charabot perfumer). A "natural" scent is rarely all natural.
Moderate evidence: One perfumer's essay; no proportions given; industry author.
Source: Ellena 2008, Chemistry & Biodiversity Industry-funded Link to this fact
Green, natural and unscented / Review of other studies
Essential oils oxidize in air into the same allergens as synthetic fragrance, and 'natural' cosmetics routinely carry fragrance allergens: 91% of 'natural' perfumes on the Danish market contained at least one target fragrance sensitizer (chemical analysis, 1996) — but only 35% of the other 'natural' cosmetics (shampoos, creams, lotions) in the same study did, at far lower concentrations — and 82 of 100 European natural-brand products checked in 2013-15 listed at least one allergen on the label.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
91%/35% is Rastogi 1996's own perfume-vs-other-cosmetics split, now confirmed by reading the primary directly (a review had dropped the perfume qualifier and stated 91% as if it covered 'natural cosmetics' generally; corrected 2026-09-27). Rastogi 1996 also found synthetic-only fragrance chemicals (hydroxycitronellal, alpha-hexylcinnamic aldehyde) in some 'natural' products, at concentrations that in one case (6.04% hydroxycitronellal) exceeded the level shown to sensitize 36% of volunteers in patch testing. 82/100 is Klaschka 2016's independent label analysis (10 products from each of 10 brands, not representative, declarations only). The oxidation half rests on Karlberg/Bråred Christensson primaries, not on these surveys. Single small studies (n=42 and n=100), not replicated across labs, so strength stays moderate per the grading rule.
Source: Pastor-Nieto 2021 (Rastogi 1996; Klaschka 2016), Current Treatment Options in Allergy Link to this fact
Green, natural and unscented / Measured in people or real products
In a 1996 Danish GC-MS analysis, 91% (20 of 22) of perfumes marketed as based on natural ingredients contained 1 to 7 of 11 well-known fragrance sensitizers at concentrations up to 7.7%, including one perfume with 6.04% hydroxycitronellal — above the concentration shown to sensitize 36% of healthy volunteers in patch testing.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
42 products, one country (Denmark), 1996 market snapshot; parent-compound GC-MS only, not label declarations; the 91% figure applies to the natural-ingredient PERFUME subset only, not natural cosmetics generally.
Green, natural and unscented / Measured in people or real products
The same 1996 study found far fewer fragrance sensitizers in other 'natural' cosmetics (shampoos, creams, lotions, deodorants, massage oils): only 35% (7 of 20) contained 1-3 of the target substances, at concentrations (0.0003-0.082%) roughly 100x lower than the natural perfumes.
Moderate evidence: Small non-representative sample (n=20); shows fragrance-sensitizer exposure from 'natural' products is concentrated in perfume-type products, not uniform across the category.
Green, natural and unscented / Other evidence
GOTS 8.1 contains no rule on perfume, scent, or aroma finishes in ordinary clothing; its only fragrance clause (COSMOS criteria) covers Group II personal-care textiles such as tampons and cotton buds, so a GOTS label does not mean fragrance-free clothing.
Moderate evidence: Absence from this document; the Implementation Manual and the Positive List of chemical inputs were not read.
Source: GOTS 8.1 (2026) Link to this fact
Health effects / Self-reported survey
In a national survey of 1,098 Australian adults, one in three (33%) said fragranced products such as air fresheners, cleaners, and perfume gave them health problems, most often breathing trouble, migraines, and skin reactions.
Moderate evidence: Self-report; same dataset as Steinemann 2018 AU asthmatics, 2018 AU MCS, and 2019 AU arm (362/1,098 reconfirmed in the MCS paper's Table 1; not a replication).
Source: Steinemann 2017, Preventive Medicine Reports Link to this fact
Health effects / Self-reported survey
In national surveys of 4,435 adults in the US, Australia, the UK, and Sweden, about 1 in 3 (32%) said fragranced products such as air fresheners, scented cleaners, or other people's perfume cause them health problems.
Moderate evidence: Self-report; any symptom from any product counts; pooled re-analysis of previously published surveys; the US arm (34.7%) is the same dataset as four US papers.
Source: Steinemann 2019, Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health Link to this fact
Health effects / Self-reported survey
Among people with symptoms, 56% named other people's perfume, 32% air fresheners, and 28% other people's freshly washed (fabric-softened) clothes as triggers.
Moderate evidence: Self-report.
Source: Elberling 2005, Clinical and Experimental Allergy Link to this fact
Health effects / Self-reported survey
In a nationally representative survey of 1,136 US adults, 34.7% said fragranced products such as air fresheners, cleaners, and perfume gave them health problems, most often breathing difficulties, eye/nose irritation, or migraine.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Self-report, any symptom from any product; not a diagnosis; adults 18-65 in an opt-in online panel; same US dataset as the 2018 asthmatics, 2018 MCS, and 2019 pooled papers (not replications); 62.7% of the affected also report chemical sensitivity or MCS, but 17.8% of people with neither are still affected.
Source: Steinemann 2016, Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health Link to this fact
Health effects / Self-reported survey
In a nationally representative survey of 1,100 UK adults, 27.8% said fragranced products such as air fresheners, cleaners, or perfume gave them health problems, including migraines (8.4%) and asthma attacks (6.8%).
Moderate evidence: Self-report, any symptom; same data as Steinemann 2019 UK arm.
Source: Steinemann 2018, Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
In a double-blind lab test where people could not smell it, perfume vapor piped to one eye caused more eye irritation than clean air in 10 of 42 people, including 2 healthy volunteers: perfume can irritate the eyes without being smelled.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
N=42; mostly self-rated eye symptoms; patient vs control difference P=0.07; only 2 objective tearing events. Consistent with the earlier single-blind Millqvist 1999 (eye irritation 1.1 vs 0.2 on 0-3, n=11), a different group, perfume and patient type. Das-Munshi, Rubin & Wessely 2006's systematic review classifies both single-blind Millqvist perfume studies (1996, 1999) as insufficiently blinded (nose clips only, no true olfactory mask), so they should not be counted as strong independent corroboration; Elberling's own double-blind result stands on its own primary data, which is why this stays at moderate rather than strong.
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
The eye irritation from perfume vapor was not an allergy: people patch-test allergic to the very same perfume were no more likely to react than those who were not.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
21 patients, 10 patch-test positive; small sample. A related 2007 study from the same group, clinic, and challenge perfume found the same pattern in a different assay: basophil histamine release to perfume was not associated with contact-allergy patch-test status either (Table 4, all P > 0.05, n=17 patients). This is modest corroboration from the same research program (same lab/clinic/perfume), not independent replication, so the grade is unchanged.
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
In a Toronto clinic for work-related breathing problems, about 1 in 10 referred workers had an irritable larynx (throat) syndrome rather than asthma; perfumes and cleaning agents, bleaches and air fresheners were among the named triggers.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single referral clinic, retrospective, n=30; perfume named by 5/30 and cleaning agents/fresheners by 4/30; 10% of referrals, not of workers. Morrison 1999, the founding case series behind the diagnostic criteria Hoy applied, independently found perfume was a named trigger in only 26% (10/39) of its own ILS cohort, behind reflux (72%) and other airborne irritants (51%) — the syndrome is not fragrance-specific at its point of origin either.
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
Over 20 years (1993–2012), California's work-related asthma surveillance confirmed 270 cases linked to perfume or air fresheners at work, 3.8% of all confirmed cases; perfume was the 9th most common workplace asthma exposure.
Moderate evidence: Surveillance count of physician-diagnosed, reported cases; misses >=2/3 of cases; no objective testing required; excludes fragranced cleaners.
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
94% of workers with fragrance-related work asthma in California were women, mostly in offices, health care, and schools, and most cases came from perfume worn by others.
Moderate evidence: Authors attribute the sex skew to occupation and exposure, not susceptibility; care-seeking bias possible.
Health effects / Self-reported survey
Of all personal care product types, perfumes and colognes had the highest hazard ratings in the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database, and adults aged 18–39 used the highest-rated ones (average 7.2 of 10, vs 5.9 for those 60 and over).
Moderate evidence: EWG hazard ratings from listed ingredients, not measured toxicity or exposure; 39% of perfumes used could not be rated.
Source: Barrett 2025, Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Health effects / Lab study (cells or chemistry)
In a 2025 lab screen of 42 everyday perfumes, almost all contained compounds that damaged bacterial DNA, killed cells, blocked the hormone-making enzyme aromatase, or acted on human estrogen or androgen receptors in test organisms, regardless of price or whether the perfume was marketed to men or women.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
In vitro (bacteria, yeast, isolated enzyme on a chromatography plate); 42 unnamed perfumes from one German campus; no compound identified; no human exposure measured. A 2026 same-lab follow-up (Schmidtmann 2026) confirms only the DNA-damage/cytotoxicity part (bacterial Ames, not the same assay) in a smaller, different, unnamed 8-perfume set, still without metabolic (S9) activation for perfumes and without retesting the hormone-active endpoints — same-lab corroboration, not independent replication.
Source: Morlock & Heil 2025, Journal of Chromatography A Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
Sunlight can turn some fragrance chemicals into skin allergens: the now-banned perfume ingredient 7-methoxycoumarin made 11 of 25 volunteers photoallergic, and in people already sensitized, 0.001% plus UVA light triggered a reaction.
Moderate evidence: Artificial UVA at 20 J/cm2 (~1 h summer sun) for the 0.001% figure; predictive photomaximization test; ingredient banned in EU cosmetics since 2000.
Source: SCCNFP 2000 Link to this fact
Health effects / Self-reported survey
Among Australians who said they had been diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivities, 91.5% reported health problems from fragranced products such as air fresheners, scented cleaners, and other people's perfume.
Moderate evidence: N = 71; self-report; partly built into the definition.
Source: Steinemann 2018, Preventive Medicine Reports Link to this fact
Health effects / Self-reported survey
In the same 2016 US survey, about 1 in 4 adults (25.9%) said they were unusually sensitive to everyday chemicals such as cleaning products, perfume, and detergents, and 81% of them reported health problems from fragranced products.
Moderate evidence: Self-report; adults 18-65 in an opt-in online panel; earlier US telephone surveys gave 11-16%.
Source: Steinemann 2018 (JOEM), Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
In a small lab test where patients could not smell it, perfume released near their eyes caused more eye irritation than a saline dummy (1.1 vs 0.2 on a 0-3 scale); a later double-blind study found the same eye effect.
Moderate evidence: Single-blind, n=11, self-rated; corroborated double-blind by Elberling 2006 (8/21 patients vs 2/21 controls, P=0.07).
Health effects / Self-reported survey
In a 1986 clinic and hospital survey of 60 asthma patients, 72% said perfume or cologne worsened their asthma, and two asthma patients who could not smell at all still reacted to perfume worn by others nearby.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Small, single-center, unblinded self-report, not selected for representativeness; higher than the ~34-43% airway-symptom rate in later representative population surveys, consistent with a clinic ceiling.
Source: Shim & Williams 1986, The American Journal of Medicine Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
In lab tests, basophils (a type of blood immune cell) from people with perfume-related breathing symptoms released significantly more histamine when exposed to strong perfume than basophils from healthy volunteers, but only at the strongest concentration tested; both groups' basophils started releasing histamine at the same dose.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Small sample (17 patients vs 20 controls) from a dermatology patch-test clinic, not a general population; significant only at the single highest (5%) perfume concentration; no chemical fractionation to identify which fragrance component(s) drove release.
Source: Elberling 2007, Clinical and Experimental Allergy Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
The excess basophil reactivity to perfume in symptomatic patients was not explained by allergy antibodies in the blood (a passive-serum-transfer test found no difference between groups) and did not track whether a patient also had a skin (contact) allergy, an inhalant allergy, or asthma.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Same research group, clinic and perfume as the 2006 eye-challenge study, so this corroborates rather than independently replicates that program's earlier 'not classic allergy' findings.
Source: Elberling 2007, Clinical and Experimental Allergy Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
In a small Swedish clinic study, people whose breathing symptoms were set off by scents reacted to a blinded perfume challenge with more symptoms than a saline placebo, even though a nasal clamp meant they could not smell either one, and their lung function, oxygen levels, heart rate, and breathing rate never changed at all.
Moderate evidence: N=9, single clinic, self-rated symptoms, perfume-vs-saline contrast single-blind (not double-blind); no healthy control group.
Source: Millqvist & Löwhagen 1996, Allergy Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
Wearing a mask with an active-carbon filter, the kind designed to remove odors and organic vapors from the air, did not stop a scent-triggered breathing reaction to perfume: symptom scores with the carbon filter were no different from a dummy filter.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
N=9, one perfume, unmeasured chamber concentration, single clinic; this arm of the study was double-blind. The paper's own hypothesis is that the reaction may enter through the eyes, which the mask does not cover, so this does not test filters that also shield the eyes.
Source: Millqvist & Löwhagen 1996, Allergy Link to this fact
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
In the clinical case series that first defined "irritable larynx syndrome," perfume was a named symptom trigger in about a quarter of patients (10 of 39), well behind reflux (72%) and other airborne irritants (51%).
Moderate evidence: Single specialist voice clinic, retrospective, uncontrolled, n=39; self-reported triggers, multiple allowed per patient; not an occupational or fragrance-specific population.
Health effects / Measured in people or real products
About 85% of patients in the founding irritable larynx syndrome case series were judged to have gastroesophageal reflux contributing to their laryngeal symptoms, making reflux the single most common named trigger and etiologic factor, ahead of any airborne trigger including perfume.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single clinic, n=39, reflux mostly diagnosed by symptoms/history rather than pH monitoring or gastroscopy; the paper's own abstract rounds this to ">90%", but the Results table gives 33/39 = 84.6%.
Health effects / Self-reported survey
In a large random sample of Swedish adults (Vasterbotten, n=3,406), 12.2% said they get symptoms from odorous or pungent chemicals such as perfumes and cleaning agents in doses that don't bother most other people, but only 3.3% had actually been given a doctor's diagnosis of a chemical-intolerance condition.
Moderate evidence: Single region (Vasterbotten county), not national; diagnosis status is itself self-reported, not verified against medical records.
Source: Palmquist 2014, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health Link to this fact
Health effects / Self-reported survey
In a 2002-03 US national telephone survey of 1,054 randomly selected adults, 11.2% self-identified as unusually sensitive to everyday chemicals such as cleaning products, perfume, and detergents, and 2.5% said they had been medically diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single national random-digit-dial telephone survey; self-report with no clinical verification of hypersensitivity or diagnosis; the earliest in a cross-country series of self-report chemical-sensitivity prevalence figures.
Source: Caress & Steinemann 2003, Archives of Environmental Health: An International Journal Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.