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
About half of children's diaper-rash creams (13 of 28) and a third of children's sunscreens (10 of 29) listed fragrance.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Small category counts; label count only. Sunscreen share is market-specific: 64.9% (87/134) of Danish children's sunscreens and sun sprays listed fragrance or a named allergen (Botvid 2023), so 'a third of sunscreens' should not be generalized beyond Brazil; diaper creams were not reported separately in Denmark.
Source: Uber 2024, Jornal de Pediatria (Rio de Janeiro) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
In a US survey, parents reported that 7 in 10 children aged 12 and under (219 of 312) had used makeup or body products such as face paint, glitter, nail polish, or body spray, including more than half of children aged 3 or younger (48 of 84).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
207 self-selected parents recruited mostly online in NYC/Boston/Houston; not nationally representative; ~60% of raw responses excluded as spam/fraud. Partial external check: in a Brazilian clinic survey (Melo 2020) per-category color-cosmetic rates matched Medley's (lipstick 18.8% vs lip ≈21%, nail 22.4% vs ≈22%), but the 70% total is driven by body products (face paint, glitter, bath bombs) that Melo did not ask about, and Melo found make-up in only ≈3% of infants, so the under-3 figure reflects body products, not make-up.
Source: Medley 2023 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
Among US children who used makeup or body products, about 1 in 8 used them daily, about 1 in 5 wore them for 8 hours or more, and about 1 in 3 had swallowed some in the past year.
Weak evidence: Parent report for 217 child users; ingestion differed sharply by ethnicity (41% vs 11%), possibly a question-wording effect.
Source: Medley 2023 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
Most US children who use makeup also use products made for adults: only about a third (36%) used mostly children's products.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Parent estimate of product share; small non-representative sample. Applies to makeup only: for cleansers, a Brazilian clinic survey (Melo 2020) found the majority used children's products (children's soap 56.5%, children's shampoo 65.9%; adult soap 37.3%, adult shampoo 27.2%, rising with age), so do not write 'most children use adult products' generally.
Source: Medley 2023 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
The only population study of lavender and tea tree oils and hormone problems in children (556 US children) was too small to rule out a risk: regularly exposed children had 2.8 times the rate of endocrine diagnoses, with a 95% confidence interval from 0.35 to 22 times.
Weak evidence: Not statistically significant; parent-reported diagnoses; self-selected natural-product users; 9 events. Supports 'not ruled out', not 'causes'.
Source: Hawkins 2021, International Journal of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
In the reported cases, children had been using lavender-scented products regularly (violet-water colognes, shampoos, soaps, baby bath, lotions) or sat beside a classroom diffuser, and breast growth went away after the products were stopped; early breast growth in children often goes away on its own, so this does not prove cause.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Case reports with dechallenge only; no comparison group; at least one of the violet-water colognes declared and contained no essential oil by an industry analysis (Giroux & Orjubin 2020). Linklater 2015's own transient alpha-fetoprotein/prolactin elevation resolved on its own over the same 12 months, for an unrelated physiological reason (infant liver immaturity) the authors themselves cite — a concrete illustration, from inside this same case, that concurrent findings can normalize without being caused by the product change.
Source: Hawkins 2020, Complementary Therapies in Medicine Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Four prepubertal children (three girls with early breast development and one boy with breast growth) whose doctors recorded continuous use of products they identified as containing lavender saw the breast tissue disappear within three to six months of stopping the product.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Four uncontrolled case reports, dechallenge only, no product analysis by the authors, and no chemical measured in any child; both conditions can resolve spontaneously. An essential-oil industry analysis later reported the boy's violet-water cologne declared and contained no essential oil (DEP, alpha-isomethyl ionone, and azo dyes instead), and one girl's baby bath only 'very low' lavender oil (unquantified).
Source: Ramsey 2019, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
At one Miami children's hospital, 16 of the 24 children seen over seven years for unexplained early breast growth had been using lavender-scented products; 14 of the 16 were Hispanic and the products were violet-water colognes of a kind often applied to babies.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Clinic case tally with no unexposed comparison group and no use-prevalence denominator; a clinic aware of the lavender hypothesis will ask about lavender; one violet-water cologne from this clinic's case reports declared and contained no essential oil by an industry analysis. Diaz 2016 (2015, same hospital, corresponding author Alejandro Diaz also a co-author here) reported 3 boys with the same outcome in the years just before this tally's window; those 3 cases are almost certainly a subset of this 16/24 figure, not additional to it, so this figure and Diaz 2016 should never be added together.
Source: Ramsey 2019, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
One of the four children had never used a lavender product at all: she sat beside a classroom lavender oil diffuser that ran all day for a year, and her breast tissue regressed three months after the diffuser exposure stopped.
Weak evidence: Single case report, no air measurement was made in the classroom, and measured indoor terpene levels elsewhere are far below the concentrations that were active in the cell assays.
Source: Ramsey 2019, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In the same 2018 NGO test, a children's shampoo had 24 unlabeled chemicals flagged for health hazards (17 on the fragrance-industry list), and a baby shampoo had 6.
Weak evidence: Counts, not amounts; single samples; not peer reviewed; not a risk ranking.
Source: BCPP 2018 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
Children's lipstick, nail polish, and eyeshadow use was about the same in a Brazilian hospital survey and a US parent survey (roughly 19-22%, 22% and 11-13%), but perfume use was three times higher in Brazil (66% vs about 21%).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Our cross-study arithmetic (Medley per-user rates re-based to all 312 children); different definitions ('perfume' vs 'fragrance products primarily for children'), ages (<=14 vs <=12) and sampling.
Source: Melo 2020, Revista Paulista de Pediatria Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a retrospective cohort of 1,298 children with acute asthma treated with continuous nebulized albuterol (15 mg/hour) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, using a benzalkonium-chloride-containing dropper-bottle formulation, 31% required prolonged therapy (more than 24 hours) or had clinical deterioration.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
This retrospective cohort (Kenyon et al. 2014) had no benzalkonium-chloride-free comparison group, so the association with BAC is not established; the review's own authors call the causal link speculative ("tempting to speculate").
Source: Prabhakaran 2017 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Lilial's metabolites have been measured, at very low concentrations, in the urine of children and adolescents in Germany (geometric mean about 10.2 µg/L for p-tert-butylbenzoic acid, about 1.5 µg/L for lysmeral, and below quantification limits for lysmerylic acid and hydroxy-lysmerylic acid).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
This is a citation, within Jablonská 2023, of a separate human-biomonitoring survey (Murawski 2020, GerES V), not primary data generated by this paper; our evidence base does not yet hold that source directly.
Source: Jablonská 2023, Sci Rep 13:18536, Scientific Reports Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
US dermatology guidance recommends including aluminum in baseline allergy patch testing for children, given a high prevalence of aluminum allergy in children and early-life exposure to aluminum through childhood vaccines.
Weak evidence: A single-sentence guidance recommendation in a narrative review, not new pediatric data; the review does not report a pediatric aluminum-allergy prevalence figure itself.
Source: Musicante 2024, Cutis Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Studies of pregnant women's phthalate exposure and their children's later weight disagree in direction: one study linked higher maternal DEHP and DINP metabolites to a greater chance of excess infant weight gain, while another found children born to mothers with the highest DEHP exposure actually had slightly lower body fat at birth than those with the lowest exposure.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Results vary by specific phthalate compound, child sex, and study design; the direction of effect (more fat vs. less fat) is inconsistent across the available prospective cohorts, so no reliable direction of effect can be claimed for maternal phthalate exposure and infant body composition.
Source: Dalamaga 2024, International Journal of Molecular Sciences Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Standard adult default values for breathing rate and body weight used in cosmetic spray inhalation exposure calculations are not appropriate for children; breathing frequency and lung volume must be adapted for a child-specific assessment.
Weak evidence: The paper gives no child-specific parameter values, defaults or worked example; this is an acknowledgment that adult defaults don't apply, not a child exposure calculation.
Source: Steiling et al. 2025, Toxicology Letters Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
NRDC's 2007 report recommends avoiding air freshener use especially where children or pregnant women are present, based on general phthalate reproductive-toxicity evidence rather than any health study of these specific air freshener products or exposures.
Weak evidence: Precautionary recommendation; the report did not measure human exposure or health outcomes from air freshener use in children or pregnant women.
Source: NRDC 2007, Clearing the Air Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Children aged 5-14 living in New York City buildings with a perchloroethylene dry cleaner had median blood levels of 0.11 ng/mL versus 0.02 in children in nearby buildings without one; children's levels were not higher than adults' in the same buildings.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Small group (about 66 and 71 children); level difference between children and adults not statistically significant; no health outcome measured in this paper (the authors cite a separate report of slightly altered vision contrast sensitivity).
Source: Storm 2013, Environmental Research Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Children's night clothes and underwear are mainly cotton and made outside the EU (18 of 22 children's-clothes firms), so the dyes of concern there are azo dyes under REACH rather than polyester disperse dyes.
Weak evidence: Questionnaire of 22 Danish firms, no purchase data; the garments actually tested were mostly polyester and not typical night clothes or underwear.
Source: Danish EPA 2014, Survey of Chemical Substances in Consumer Products No. 129 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA asks whether oxybenzone sunscreens should be contraindicated for children under 2 years old, because children under 2 may not fully have the enzymes that metabolize oxybenzone and have a higher body-surface-to-weight ratio.
Weak evidence: The enzyme point is a theoretical argument from a 2006 report; FDA says it is seeking existing pediatric data and public comment, and has not made a finding.
Source: FDA proposed order OTC000008 (2021) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
In the same EPA screening, ADBAC egg-shell washing at 400 ppm exceeded the chronic reference dose only for children 1-2 years old (120%), prompting EPA to plan to require egg residue data.
Weak evidence: Screening estimate using the label maximum for all egg commodities; a plan to gather data, not a measured exposure.
Source: US EPA 2017 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Among 180 Korean children with ADHD, higher urinary levels of the DBP breakdown product MBP went with higher oppositional-defiant and aggression scores (ODD score +6.1 points per ln-unit, 95% CI 3.0-9.2).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional association within a clinic sample; roughly 20 outcome models without multiplicity correction; parent-rated ADHD-RS itself was not significantly associated; MBP is from plastics and food contact, and fragrance phthalate DEP was not measured.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In 115 Korean children with ADHD, higher urinary DEHP breakdown products went with thinner cortex in a small area of the right temporal lobe on MRI.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional, single cohort, no imaging control group, small clusters (14 and 48 vertices); cortical thickness did not track externalizing scores, so the authors' 'negative impact on cortical maturation' is interpretation, not demonstration.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Higher DEHP breakdown products in urine went with more commission errors (impulsive responding) on a computer attention test in children with ADHD (B=13.6, 95% CI 3.7-23.6).
Weak evidence: One cross-sectional clinic sample, single spot urine; reverse causation and confounding by referral and diet cannot be excluded.
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
In a 2015 review of phthalates and child neurodevelopment, the adverse results for the fragrance phthalate DEP (measured as urinary MEP) came from a single New York City cohort reported in two papers, while most other adverse signals involved DBP, DEHP and BBzP, which come mainly from plastics, food contact and medication coatings.
Weak evidence: Urinary MEP comes from all DEP sources, not only fragrance; neither paper measured fragrance use; one cohort.
Source: [[src-2015-phthalate-exposure-childrens-neurodevelopment-systematic|Ejaredar 2015]], Environmental Research Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
The same Finnish cohort found no link between children's ADHD symptoms and maternal hypothyroxinemia (low free T4 with normal TSH; 66 mothers) or thyroid-peroxidase antibodies, although the hypothyroxinemia group was too small to rule out an effect.
Weak evidence: Only 66 exposed mothers; confidence intervals are wide and several girls' cells had zero cases.
Source: Päkkilä 2014 (NFBC 1986), The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In the same cohort, children's ADHD-symptom scores were not related to continuous maternal TSH or free T4 levels, to subclinical hypothyroidism, or (for hypothyroxinemia) to oppositional-behavior scores, so only the low-free-T4 group stood out.
Weak evidence: Null results from one cohort; supplement tables (subclinical hypothyroidism) not examined here; the 127-child exposed group limits power.
Source: Modesto 2015 (Generation R), JAMA Pediatrics 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 / Other evidence
In the same Taiwanese cohort, the urinary marker of the fragrance-solvent phthalate DEP (MEP, geometric mean about 62 ug/g creatinine) was not associated with children's behavior scores at age 8-9 in adjusted models.
Weak evidence: Small study; one spot urine for a short-half-life metabolite; the authors' Discussion describes MEP as associated with clinical-range externalizing scores based on an 8-case cell.
Source: Lien 2015, Taiwan, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a pooled analysis of 4 of the 6 studies of maternal hypothyroxinemia (normal TSH, low free T4) in early pregnancy, the odds of ADHD symptoms in children were about 1.5 times higher (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.02-2.33).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Lower CI bound barely above 1; four studies, two from the same Dutch cohort; free T4 by immunoassay in pregnancy can misclassify; the review's own Discussion calls the hypothyroxinemia evidence mixed.
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
One systematic review summarized in the 2022 scoping review found 14 of 16 studies reported a phthalate association with ADHD in children, but the authors of that review said study limitations made definite conclusions difficult and did not pool the results.
Weak evidence: Vote count of directions across mixed designs including cross-sectional studies; no risk-of-bias grading; not independent confirmations; relayed second-hand by the scoping review.
Source: Moore 2022 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In the same Taiwanese cohort, the child's own urinary MnBP (98 children) went with clinical-range total problems (OR 7.06, 95% CI 1.01-49.05) and internalizing problems (OR 11.04, 1.27-95.72), but the paper's claim that prenatal and postnatal exposure have 'distinct' effects is not tested.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Small subsample, child urine apparently concurrent with the behavior rating, CIs overlap the prenatal ones, and child MBzP and MEHP showed implausible inverse ORs for externalizing.
Source: Huang 2024, Toxics Link to this fact
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 / Measured in people or real products
Black children in this Baltimore sample (86% of 110) were reported by the authors to have higher levels of some EDCs tied to scented products than other US children, but lower benzophenone-3, consistent with less sunscreen use; the study had no comparison group of non-Black children.
Weak evidence: The comparison is to NHANES 2015-2016 published data, not to a matched group; unmeasured product use, diet and housing could explain differences.
Source: Fandiño-Del-Rio 2024, Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
The only paraben signal was methyl-paraben (log MC 0.042, 95% CI 0.013 to 0.071) with attention variability; ethyl-, propyl- and butyl-paraben, BPA, triclosan and oxybenzone showed no clear association with attention in the same children.
Weak evidence: Single cohort, uncorrected for multiple testing; parabens are personal-care preservatives, not fragrance ingredients.
Source: Fabbri 2025 (HELIX), Environmental Research Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Shenzhen survey of 5,602 mother-child pairs, mothers who recalled a thyroid problem during pregnancy (3.9%) had children with about 54% higher adjusted hazard of screening positive for ADHD on a parent-rated scale (HR 1.54, 95% CI 1.05-2.26).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Self-reported thyroid yes/no with no hormone tests; the ADHD outcome is a mother-completed screen, not a clinical diagnosis; shared-reporter and recall bias; no sex split; lower CI limit near 1.05.
Source: Feng 2025, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The same Shenzhen study reported that mothers rating first-trimester stress as significant had children with higher ADHD-screen risk than mothers rating it moderate (HR 0.64) or minor (0.57), but its continuous stress model and group means point the other way, so the stress result is unreliable.
Weak evidence: Non-validated single-item stress ratings recalled 3-7 years later; the scale direction is stated inconsistently in the paper; no mediation or interaction with thyroid tested.
Source: Feng 2025, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In an Illinois cohort, mothers with higher ethylparaben (a preservative in some cosmetics) in urine pooled across pregnancy had children with somewhat higher mother-reported ADHD-type scores at age 2 and oppositional-defiant scores at age 3.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Small cohort (255-285 children per age); over a hundred uncorrected tests, flagged at p<0.1; no effect at age 4; CBCL scales are not diagnoses; association only; parabens are not fragrance ingredients.
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Denver study of 26 children with ADHD and 30 typically developing children, parents rated the ADHD group as having more sensory difficulties on 6 of 7 Short Sensory Profile scales, including taste/smell sensitivity (mean 3.49 vs 4.64, lower is worse).
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Small clinic sample, parent report by parents who knew the diagnosis, no IQ or comorbidity control, one research group; the taste/smell scale is a behavior checklist, not an odor-intolerance test.
Source: Mangeot 2001, Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Children with ADHD in this study showed a larger first skin-conductance response to sensory stimuli (smell, sound, light, touch, tilt) than controls, which faded to similar levels over 8 repeats; the overall group difference was only borderline (p=0.056).
Weak evidence: Marginal main effect, responses pooled across five stimuli so the wintergreen odor is not reported separately, sample counts differ between text (26/30) and Table IV (30/31).
Source: Mangeot 2001, Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Within children with ADHD (n=19), parent-reported touch sensitivity and sensation seeking went with more aggressive behavior (r about -0.66 to -0.73), so sensory over-responsiveness varies widely among children with ADHD (SSP totals 77 to 170; 24% in the normal range).
Weak evidence: Cross-sectional correlations in 19 children, same parent reporting both scales, no causal direction.
Source: Mangeot 2001, Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The ADHD consensus lists one prenatal phthalate study: mothers in the highest quintile of phthalate metabolites had children about three times as likely to have ADHD (Norwegian MoBa nested case-control, 297 cases, 553 controls).
Weak evidence: A single study, not graded for risk of bias; EPA's graded review rated most phthalate-behavior evidence slight or indeterminate; no fragrance or DEP content.
Source: Faraone 2021, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The authors of a 2024 commentary on the 2022 US children's health survey say the rise in ADHD diagnoses may reflect more awareness, pandemic schooling demands, disrupted assessment and telehealth access, and they could not say whether any is a true increase.
Weak evidence: Speculative expert opinion; none of the explanations was tested; no environmental cause proposed.
Source: Chronis-Tuscano 2024, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Taiwanese cohort of 446 children aged 6 to 8, urinary methyl-, ethyl-, propyl- and butylparaben showed no strong overall link with attention-test (K-CPT 2) scores, singly or as a mixture.
Weak evidence: Cross-sectional, one spot urine, single cohort; a null here does not show safety and parabens are preservatives, not fragrance ingredients.
Source: Tung 2024, Environment International Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Boston fertility-clinic cohort, fathers' urinary methylparaben and propylparaben before conception went with higher parent-reported internalizing (anxiety/depression-type) behavior scores in their 6-13-year-old children (about 2 T-points per natural-log unit).
Weak evidence: One small cohort, 62% IVF, parent-reported outcomes, single paternal urine per father, 54 uncorrected tests; association only; parabens are not fragrance ingredients.
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The same study found no link between mothers' urinary parabens before or during pregnancy and children's behavior at ages 6-13, singly or as a three-paraben mixture.
Weak evidence: Modest sample (140 mothers, about 30% of eligible families), 2-3 urines averaged; a null here does not prove safety.
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
For child ADHD, the review reads twin and children-of-twins studies as showing an independent effect of smoking in pregnancy even after genetic and family controls, which the later assisted-conception study of Thapar 2009 questioned.
Weak evidence: Genetic risk in twin models is inferred statistically, not removed; the review's own Table 2 summarizes one twin study as no ADHD effect once covariates were included.
Source: Knopik 2009, Developmental Neuropsychology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Classroom noise (median 38 dB, IQR 7.6 dB) went with higher teacher-rated ADHD symptoms in the same Barcelona children, about 22-29% higher score per interquartile range, but not with the parent-rated behavior score.
Weak evidence: Cross-sectional; noise from one classroom per school; association, not diagnosis or causation; noise is not fragrance-related.
Source: Forns 2016, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Rating-scale studies of preterm-born children show large but highly inconsistent elevations in inattention and hyperactivity (pooled standardized differences about 1.3 and 0.7, I2 95-97%) and a moderate elevation in combined symptoms (about 0.55).
Weak evidence: Heterogeneity is extreme and driven by a few outlier studies; publication bias detected for combined symptoms; not fragrance-related.
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
The same EPA meta-analysis pooled phthalate and plasticizer studies (5 studies, 10 compounds including BPA) and reported an odds ratio of about 3.3 for ADHD in children, with I2 of 98%.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Lumps phthalates with BPA, crude ORs, very serious imprecision by the authors' own rating, cross-sectional designs; EPA's graded phthalate review (Radke 2020) rates individual phthalate-ADHD evidence slight or indeterminate; no fragrance phthalate analyzed separately.
Source: Nilsen and Tulve 2020, Environmental Research Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In the one human dose-response trial of tartrazine (Yellow 5; Rowe and Rowe 1994, 54 children), reactor children responded from 2 mg per day; OEHHA's text treats 1 mg as the no-effect dose, about 0.04 mg/kg/day for a 7-year-old and more than 100 times below the 5 mg/kg/day ADI, but its Table 7 labels the same dose a LOAEL (C712).
Weak evidence: Single trial (Rowe and Rowe 1994, 54 children); the paper labels the same dose a NOAEL in text and a LOAEL in Table 7.
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In the same NHANES analysis, children with parent-reported ADHD had higher serum cotinine (median 0.24 vs 0.08 ng/mL), and log-cotinine was associated with ADHD (adjusted OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.18-2.63) in the 5,819 children with cotinine data.
Weak evidence: Single spot cotinine measured at survey, not exposure at diagnosis; per-log-unit estimate, not a graded dose-response; supplementary results not peer reviewed.
Source: Bao 2026 (NHANES 1999-2004), Tobacco Induced Diseases Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Brazilian clinic sample of 48 children born before 35 weeks (mean age 7.9), about two thirds (32 of 48) had atypical parent-reported sensory profiles on the Sensory Profile-2, and 28 of those 32 were children with ADHD.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Single-center cross-sectional, 38 ADHD vs 10 non-ADHD, no term-born controls, 79% ADHD rate shows referral selection; parent report; a Fisher test on 28/38 vs 4/10 (computed here, not in the paper) gives p about 0.06.
Source: Nunes 2026, Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences Reports Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Among preterm children, those with ADHD scored higher than those without on the Auditory section (p = 0.002), Attention section (p = 0.01), Sensitivity quadrant (p = 0.03) and Conduct section (p = 0.05); the other nine quadrants and sections did not differ.
Weak evidence: About 13 uncorrected comparisons in 10 vs 38 children; the authors call them exploratory; only Auditory passes a simple Bonferroni threshold (0.05/13).
Source: Nunes 2026, Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences Reports Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The Sensory Profile-2 Oral section (where taste and smell-related behavior would fall) did not differ between preterm children with and without ADHD (mean raw score 15.8 vs 15.6); the paper has no separate smell or taste measure.
Weak evidence: Tiny non-ADHD group (n=10) with low power; the Oral section's content is from the instrument manual, not stated in the paper.
Source: Nunes 2026, Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences Reports Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Spanish school cohort of 1,925 children aged 10-11, higher estimated outdoor NO2 around the mother's home during pregnancy went with slightly higher teacher-rated ADHD-symptom scores (about 1 T-score point per 10 µg/m3), but air pollution showed no association with a clinical ADHD diagnosis of any type.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Single cross-sectional cohort; modeled address-level exposure back-extrapolated from 2009 sampling; small effect that the authors call of limited clinical relevance; teacher-report models not adjusted for parental ADHD. Air pollution is not a fragrance exposure.
Source: Kaur 2026, Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In 16,335 US children from 55 ECHO cohorts, those whose mothers smoked at any point in pregnancy (10.17%) had modestly higher parent-reported overall behavior-problem severity at every age from 1 to 18, and a tilt toward externalizing rather than internalizing problems in most age bins.
Weak evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional, binary recalled smoking, no sibling or genetic design; the authors say the effects are probably inflated by familial confounding and are not causal estimates. Tobacco smoke is not a fragrance ingredient.
Source: Marceau 2026 (ECHO), Development and Psychopathology Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.