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
Synthetic musk fragrance chemicals were found in the breast milk of every one of 39 Massachusetts mothers tested in 2004; the most common, galaxolide (HHCB), was in 97% of them.
Strong evidence: One US state, 2004 samples, n=39; no product-use data; no health outcome.
Source: Reiner 2007, Environmental Science & Technology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Musk scent chemicals used in perfumes, deodorants, and detergents turn up in mothers' milk fat; a breastfed baby takes in an estimated ~2 micrograms of galaxolide a day.
Strong evidence.
Caveats
Intake is a model estimate from means of detects; the printed intakes do not reproduce from the stated method. Independently corroborated: Lignell 2008 (N=101, Swedish mothers, single lab) estimated median infant HHCB intake at 1650 ng/day (range 50-6950) using the same milk-intake modeling approach, closely matching this paper's printed 1830 ng/day figure in an unrelated country and cohort.
Source: Reiner 2007, Environmental Science & Technology Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.