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 / Self-reported survey
Every one of 13 Washington DC childcare facilities that reported health data had at least one child with physician-diagnosed asthma, with a typical (median) facility rate of about 10%.
Weak evidence: Center-Director-reported, not chart-confirmed; no exposure-outcome link tested; n=13.
Source: Quirós-Alcalá 2016, Environmental Research Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
In animal studies, a pregnant female's exposure to an endocrine-disrupting chemical can affect not only her offspring but her offspring's offspring, because developmental exposure can alter reproductive-cell programming that carries across generations.
Weak evidence: Evidence for these transgenerational effects comes from animal studies cited in the report; no multigenerational human dataset is cited for this specific claim.
Source: WHO/UNEP 2012 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
A 2020 review states that endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in the placenta (pesticides, personal care product chemicals, flame retardants, BPA, PCBs) could be associated with fetal growth restriction, thyroid dysfunction, and neurological disorders, but the mechanisms are largely unknown.
Weak evidence: Association stated through a single cited review; mechanisms rest largely on animal and small human studies; not a demonstrated causal risk.
Source: Street 2020, International Journal of Molecular Sciences Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In the same study, higher DEHP in carpet dust (a plastics phthalate, not a fragrance one) was more common in homes of the 27 children with developmental delay (odds ratio 2.12, 95% CI 1.10-4.09 per ln-unit), but the authors report the finding did not survive correction for multiple comparisons and may be due to chance.
Weak evidence: 27 cases; exposure measured after the delay was already present (reverse causation possible); DEHP is not a fragrance ingredient; abstract states OR 2.10, table 2.12.
Source: Philippat 2015 (CHARGE), Environmental Health Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
In a 2019 review, newborn total thyroxine from heel-prick screening cards did not predict a later ADHD diagnosis (ORs 0.99 and 1.08, CI 0.95-1.24), and newborn TSH did not predict ADHD symptoms at ages 4-5.
Weak evidence: Few studies; sample timing after birth was not adjusted; some studies may share participants.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In the same Baltimore children, recent scented candle use went with about 2.6 times higher urine methyl paraben (2.57, 95% CI 1.09-6.06) and scented carpet powder with about 2.8 times higher 2,5-dichlorophenol (2.77, 1.21-6.34), but only in models adjusting for other products; the candle result was not significant on its own (2.32, 0.95-5.64).
Weak evidence: Wide intervals, many comparisons, and the authors say carpet powder may only mark carpeted homes; no ingredients checked.
Source: Fandiño-Del-Rio 2024, Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In the same Korean first-trimester cohort, triclosan, benzophenone-3 and methyl-, ethyl-, propyl- and butylparaben (personal-care-product chemicals) were not associated with TSH or with the oxidative-stress markers MDA and 8-OHdG.
Weak evidence: A null from one small cohort with one spot urine per woman; it does not show safety, and it contradicts earlier cohorts the authors cite (propylparaben, BPS).
Source: Kim 2025, Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Tobacco smoke exposes a fetus to a mixture including carbon monoxide, ammonia, nitrogen oxides and metals, so animal nicotine findings cannot be assigned to nicotine alone in people; tobacco smoke is not a fragrance ingredient.
Weak evidence: Animal findings (rats, mice, guinea pigs) are not human evidence; no fragrance exposure studied.
Source: Knopik 2009, Developmental Neuropsychology Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.