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