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 34 California childcare centers, the chemicals at the highest levels in the air children breathed came from cleaning and personal-care products: a silicone ingredient called D5 (median 51 µg/m³) and the citrus-scent chemical limonene (median 33 µg/m³).
Strong evidence: Single-day samples; upper values capped by calibration (underestimates).
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
About half of children's cosmetics in a Danish registry (634 of 1,179, 53.8%) listed perfume or a named fragrance allergen, and a US survey of 533 baby/child personal care products found a closely similar share (255/533, 47.8%; Bonchak 2018); in Danish baby-care products the commonest named allergens were linalool, limonene, and benzyl alcohol (the US primary does not report limonene or linalool by name).
Strong evidence.
Caveats
Danish half is primary (Botvid 2023): baby-care products specifically were 38.0% (178/468), the least fragranced category — do not write 'half of baby products' for Denmark. 'Fragranced' there includes products naming only an allergen such as benzyl alcohol (often a preservative). US half is now also primary (Bonchak 2018): 47.8% (255/533) across wipes/diaper care/soap/moisturizer/shampoo/sunscreen — but Bonchak's fragrance count is a ~20-keyword composite that does not report limonene or linalool individually, so the 'top three' allergen list is confirmed only for Denmark. Label counts remain lower bounds.
Source: Sukakul 2024, Acta Dermato-Venereologica Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Indoor irritant limits are built on studies of healthy young adults; a 2024 toxicology review found only one controlled irritation study in children (none under age 5) and concluded no evidence-based safety factor for children could be set.
Strong evidence: Absence of data, not evidence of harm; the review lists reasons children could be more or less susceptible (e.g. more stable tear film).
Source: Kleinbeck & Wolkoff 2024, Archives of Toxicology Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
16.5% of children and adolescents patch tested in 9 population studies had a contact allergy, and in Swedish 16-year-olds fragrance (2.1%) was the second most common allergen after nickel.
Strong evidence: Any allergen, not fragrance only; some adolescent studies read too early and underestimate.
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Children exposed to household chemical/cleaning products before birth or in their first year wheeze more often, now replicated in four independent prospective birth cohorts. The founding ALSPAC cohort (UK, n=7,019, Sherriff et al. 2005) found that an 11-product, frequency-weighted prenatal household chemical (TCB) score was significantly associated with persistent wheeze through 3.5 years (adjusted OR 1.06 per unit increase; top-vs-bottom-decile adjusted OR 2.3), but not with transient early or late-onset wheeze; this is the same ALSPAC cohort and composite-score methodology that both Casas 2013 and Mikeš 2019 name as their model. In the Canadian CHILD cohort (n=2,022), frequent use in early infancy was linked to higher odds of recurrent wheeze (adjusted OR 1.35) and asthma diagnosis (adjusted OR 1.37) by age 3, but not isolated skin-prick allergy (adjusted OR 1.14, ns), though wheeze combined with allergy was itself raised (adjusted OR 1.49). In the Czech ELSPAC-CZ cohort (n=3,411), each 1-SD increase in an 18-product household chemical exposure score at 6 months raised the odds of intermediate-onset transient, intermediate-onset persistent, and early-onset persistent wheeze phenotypes through age 5 (adjusted OR 1.23-1.36), and those persistent phenotypes carried 5-8x higher odds of doctor-diagnosed asthma at age 7 (pediatrician records, not self-report). In the pooled Spanish INMA cohorts (n=2,292), prenatal (third-trimester) use of cleaning sprays raised the odds of both wheezing (OR 1.37) and lower respiratory tract infection (OR 1.29) in the first year of life, with solvents raising wheezing odds (OR 1.30) and air fresheners raising LRTI odds (OR 1.29); bleach, ammonia, and non-spray cleaners showed no association.
Strong evidence.
Caveats
All four cohorts are observational and use self-reported product-use frequency, not measured indoor air chemistry. The ALSPAC/Sherriff 2005 and ELSPAC-CZ signals are specific to persistent-type wheeze phenotypes, not wheeze in general; ALSPAC found no association with transient early or late-onset wheeze. The 'not atopy' finding remains single-cohort (CHILD only); ELSPAC-CZ's atopic-rash variable is a covariate, not an outcome, and Casas 2013 measured neither atopy nor a physician asthma diagnosis, only maternal-reported LRTI and any-wheezing through 12-18 months, so it neither confirms nor refutes the atopy finding; ALSPAC/Sherriff 2005 did not assess atopy or asthma at all. Casas 2013 is the only cohort among the three post-2010 cohorts with genuinely prenatal (rather than early-postnatal) exposure measurement, but ALSPAC/Sherriff 2005 is also prenatal and its composite score behaved like CHILD's and ELSPAC-CZ's (significant), not like Casas's (null) — evidence against prenatal timing per se explaining the Casas null. Casas 2013's own summed cleaning-product-count score was NOT a significant predictor, unlike ALSPAC's, CHILD's, and ELSPAC-CZ's frequency-weighted composite scores — an open methodological tension (register entry C262) that means 'more products used' is not yet a uniformly replicated exposure metric across all cohorts, even though several specific products (sprays consistently, plus solvents and air fresheners) are.
Source: Salonen 2024, Environment International Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
The government scientists who first linked lavender and tea tree oils to breast growth in children agree that four case reports cannot prove the oils caused it, and have called for epidemiological studies.
Strong evidence: Correspondence; the same letter also calls ER-agonist exposure 'substantial evidence of causality'.
Source: Ramsey et al. 2020 (JCEM reply), The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
A perfume ('eau de cologne') marketed for babies listed 16 different fragrance allergens, the most of 1,179 children's products in a Danish registry.
Strong evidence: A single product (the maximum), not typical; mean 0.4-1.8 named allergens per product by category; label presence, not dose.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Even products marketed 'fragrance free' for children commonly contain contact allergens: of 52 US pediatric products so labeled in 2013, 42 (80.8%) contained at least one NACDG-tray allergen and 29 (55.8%) contained two or more.
Strong evidence: Label-based; allergens are not broken down by which ones appeared specifically in the 'fragrance free' subgroup beyond the count, and no concentration data exist.
Source: Hamann 2015, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
Because of endocrine-disruption concerns, the EU has banned bisphenol A from baby bottles and other food containers for infants and young children, set very low BPA migration limits for other food-contact materials, and banned or restricted several parabens in cosmetics 'in particular to protect infants and young children.'
Strong evidence: These are specific, named EU regulations (bisphenol A: Reg. (EU) No 10/2011 and 2018/213; parabens: Reg. (EU) No 358/2014 and 1004/2014), not a general endocrine-disruptor rule.
Source: EU Commission 2018 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA says it prioritizes enforcement against homeopathic products marketed to vulnerable populations including children, pregnant women, and the elderly, and against products for serious diseases such as cancer, non-oral/topical routes, injury reports, risky ingredients, and quality problems.
Strong evidence: Enforcement priorities, not a ban; the guidance is nonbinding and many products fall outside the six categories.
Source: FDA consumer page: Homeopathic Products, FDA web page Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The EU's colors warning is a disclosure label that says an effect 'may' occur in children; it is not a ban on the six colors and does not change any acceptable daily intake.
Strong evidence: The Regulation's text gives no rationale; the link to the Southampton trial and EFSA's opinion comes from those source pages, not from this text.
Source: EU Reg 1333/2008 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Swedish register study of 768,227 children (19,891 with ADHD), smoking in pregnancy went with about 2 times the ADHD risk (1-9 cigarettes/day HR 1.89; 10 or more HR 2.50), but the risk fell to 1.45 and 1.69 when cousins were compared and to 0.88 and 0.84 (not significant) when siblings were compared.
Strong evidence.
Caveats
One national register cohort (replicates smaller sibling studies in Finland, UK, US); ADHD ascertained from hyperkinetic diagnoses and medication, which likely captures severe cases; sibling designs are sensitive to non-shared confounders; tobacco smoke is not a fragrance exposure.
Source: Skoglund 2014, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
In a Danish register study of about 968,000 children born 1991-2006, children whose mothers smoked in pregnancy had about twice the rate of ADHD (hazard ratio 2.01, 95% CI 1.94-2.07), rising to 2.77 for 10 or more cigarettes a day.
Strong evidence: Observational association in an ordinary cohort; the authors attribute it largely to family factors, not a proven effect of smoking.
Source: Obel 2016, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Link to this fact
Hidden ingredients / Review of other studies
None of the products used by the four affected children was ever chemically analyzed; the researchers could only assume that a product labeled as containing lavender oil actually met the international composition standard.
Strong evidence.
Caveats
Stated by the authors as a limitation; an industry letter later claimed one named cologne contained diethyl phthalate and no lavender oil, which has also never been independently verified.
Source: Ramsey 2019, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Link to this fact
The industry / Self-reported survey
The study most often cited to call lavender and tea tree oils 'safe' for children was part-funded by the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association, the Tisserand Institute, and an aromatherapy association, while declaring no conflicts of interest.
Strong evidence: Funding is documented in the paper itself; funders are stated to have had no role. The paper's weakness is its power and design, not only its funding.
Source: Hawkins 2021, International Journal of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Industry-funded Link to this fact
The industry / Review of other studies
The tea tree oil industry's trade association (ATTIA) challenged the lavender/tea tree case reports in a medical journal, and the same association later helped fund a survey that called the oils safe for children.
Strong evidence: Documents who argued what; says nothing about whether the oils cause breast growth.
Source: Ramsey et al. 2020 (JCEM reply); Hawkins et al. 2021, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Link to this fact
Laws and loopholes / Government agency
The US 1996 Food Quality Protection Act requires EPA to add an extra 10-fold safety factor on top of the traditional 10-fold uncertainty factor when assessing pesticide risks, specifically to account for prenatal or postnatal developmental toxicity in children, unless child-specific data justify a smaller factor.
Strong evidence: This is a description of the law's requirement, not a claim that the added safety factor has eliminated risk for any specific chemical.
Source: Goldman 1998, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Laws and loopholes / Other evidence
Since 20 July 2010, EU food containing sunset yellow (E 110), quinoline yellow (E 104), carmoisine (E 122), allura red (E 129), tartrazine (E 102) or Ponceau 4R (E 124) must carry the warning 'may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children', except meat health marks and egg stamping; a food-color finding, not a fragrance one.
Strong evidence: Original 2008 text; later amendments are not in this capture, so check the current consolidated text. The Regulation states no evidence for the warning.
Source: EU Reg 1333/2008 Link to this fact
What you can do / Government agency
Banning or phasing out a single chemical can measurably cut human exposure within a few years: after the US residential ban on the insecticide chlorpyrifos in 2000, New York children's blood levels of it fell significantly within a year and to less than half within two years, and after the US phase-out of leaded gasoline, children's average blood lead levels (NHANES data) fell sharply over the following decade.
Strong evidence: These are well-documented US regulatory case studies (chlorpyrifos, lead); the report does not claim the same speed of decline for every banned or restricted chemical.
Source: WHO/UNEP 2012 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Three in four children's cosmetics (295 of 398, 74.1%) on sale in a Brazilian city listed "parfum/fragrance" on the label, including 90% of children's shampoos and 79% of baby wet wipes.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Label count only, one city, lower bound. Scope also excludes perfume/cologne, which 65.9% of children in the same city used (Melo 2020). A US survey of a broader category mix of personal-care products (Bonchak 2018, n=533) found a lower fragrance-keyword prevalence (48%), and Denmark's named-allergen tally found 53.8% (Botvid 2023) — country, category mix, and label-counting method all move this figure, so 74.1% should not be read as a universal children's-cosmetics rate.
Source: Uber 2024, Jornal de Pediatria (Rio de Janeiro) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
As of 2019, the evidence that lavender or tea tree oil causes breast growth in young children consisted only of case reports: 11 children described in detail in 4 papers, with no controlled study.
Moderate evidence: Systematic review of case reports; undercounts (one included paper reports ~20 more cases in clinic tallies).
Source: Hawkins 2020, Complementary Therapies in Medicine Industry-funded Link to this fact
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 / Self-reported survey
A quarter of Brazilian children in a hospital survey (71 of 276) already wore make-up, starting at a median age of 4, usually because the child asked for it (75% of users).
Moderate evidence: One hospital sample; caregiver report; frequency not asked.
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
93% of children's facial-care products in a Danish registry (80 of 86, almost all lip balms) listed fragrance, averaging nearly two named fragrance allergens each.
Moderate evidence: Label data; n=86; registry sample.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a US label survey of 533 personal care products marketed for babies and children, 48% (255/533) contained a fragrance-category allergen and 55% (294/533) contained at least one of eight screened contact allergens.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single US retail platform (Drugstore.com/Walgreens), one 2018 snapshot; fragrance is a ~20-keyword composite tally, not a per-chemical breakdown; no chemical verification of labels.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
Cheaper baby and children's personal care products contain significantly more contact allergens than pricier ones: products with two or more screened allergens averaged $1.39 per ounce versus $4.35 per ounce for products with none.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Correlation only, no mechanism tested; a similar but non-significant trend was found in adult moisturizers (Xu 2017), so the effect size and significance may not generalize beyond baby products.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In an ordinary primary-school classroom, children were exposed to ultrafine-particle bursts reaching 140,000 particles per cubic centimeter during art activities, the highest classroom particle level measured among the wiki's school-exposure studies, with no health outcome measured.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Exposure measurement only; no symptom, lung-function, or biomarker data were collected; one school; the specific art-material source was not identified (only 4 of ~30 paints/glues were tested, none containing limonene).
Source: Morawska 2009, Environmental Science & Technology 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 / Measured in people or real products
Two no-lye hair relaxer kits marketed for children had the highest measured levels of chemicals banned in EU cosmetics or listed under California's Proposition 65 (DEHP, nonylphenol, o-phenylphenol, diethanolamine) of any products tested in this study.
Moderate evidence: N=3 relaxer kits (2 marketed for children); no health outcome measured in children who used these products.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Czech birth cohort of 3,411 children (ELSPAC-CZ), each 1-SD increase in an 18-product household chemical exposure score measured at 6 months raised the odds of intermediate-onset transient wheeze (adjusted OR 1.27), early-onset persistent wheeze (adjusted OR 1.36) and intermediate-onset persistent wheeze (adjusted OR 1.23) through age 5, and those persistent wheeze phenotypes carried 5-8x higher odds of a doctor-diagnosed asthma by age 7 (pediatrician records, not self-report).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single prospective cohort; exposure and wheeze through age 5 are maternal self-report (only the school-age asthma outcome is medically ascertained); the asthma link runs through the wheeze phenotype, not directly from exposure to asthma, and the paper's own direct exposure-to-asthma model was underpowered. Independently replicates the Canadian CHILD cohort (Parks 2020), which together raises the combined wheeze/asthma claim to strong (see regrade on src-2024-cleaning-products-chemistry-indoor-air-quality-health).
Source: Mikeš 2019, Science of the Total Environment Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Self-reported survey
In a large UK birth cohort (ALSPAC, n=7,019), each 1-unit increase in a composite score of prenatal household chemical product use (11 products, frequency-weighted) raised the odds of persistent wheeze through age 3.5 by 6% (adjusted OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.09), and children of mothers in the top decile of use were more than twice as likely to wheeze persistently as those in the bottom decile (adjusted OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.2-4.4); transient early wheeze and late onset wheeze showed no significant adjusted association.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Observational; both exposure (product-use frequency) and outcome (parent-reported wheeze) are questionnaire-based, with no objective air-chemistry or clinical measurement. The persistent-wheeze specificity (no significant transient-early or late-onset association) is the same phenotype-specific pattern later independently replicated in the Czech ELSPAC-CZ cohort (Mikes 2019) and, more broadly, in the Canadian CHILD cohort (Parks 2020). Graded moderate (orchestrator 2026-09-27): one cohort, self-report on both sides; the cross-cohort replication is credited on the pooled four-cohort claim instead.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a Belgian study of 234 schoolchildren aged 10-13, those living in homes cleaned with chlorine bleach at least once a week had a much lower rate of doctor-diagnosed or test-confirmed asthma than other children (3.8% vs 13.5%; adjusted odds ratio 0.10, 95% CI 0.02-0.51).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cross-sectional study, one city, self-reported weekly-or-more bleach use with no dose or brand detail; a large adjusted OR from a small event count (3 vs 21 cases) gives a wide confidence interval, and residual confounding by household type cannot be fully excluded despite adjustment.
Source: Nickmilder, Carbonnelle & Bernard 2007, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In the same study, children in bleach-cleaned homes were also less likely to have doctor-diagnosed eczema (3.8% vs 14.1%, adjusted OR 0.22) and to be sensitized to indoor aeroallergens, especially house dust mite (adjusted OR 0.53 and 0.43 respectively), but showed no difference in sensitization to pollen allergens.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Same single-study, single-city limitations as the asthma finding; sensitization was measured by serum allergen-specific IgE, a marker of sensitization, not of clinical allergic disease.
Source: Nickmilder, Carbonnelle & Bernard 2007, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
The limonene-asthma association was substantially stronger in children than adults in this Canadian national survey: children (6-16y) had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.46 (95% CI 1.45-1.47) for asthma per 100% increase in indoor limonene versus 1.16 (95% CI 1.15-1.16) in adults (17-79y), and the FeNO increase was about twice as large in children (2.89%, 95% CI 1.88-4.43) as in adults (1.44%, 95% CI 1.16-1.79).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional; the authors' proposed explanations (more eosinophilic airway inflammation in children, more time spent at home, higher measured limonene in the younger age group) are speculative, not tested directly in this study.
Source: Dales & Cakmak 2019, Environmental Pollution Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
No controlled human exposure studies investigating whether children, elderly people, or smokers are more sensitive to irritant chemicals than healthy young adults could be found in the literature through August 2020.
Moderate evidence: Absence of studies, not evidence of no difference; the same evidence gap for children is documented in more detail by a later 2024 review.
Source: Mangelsdorf et al. 2021, Int J Hyg Environ Health, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Children who received benzalkonium-chloride-containing continuous nebulized albuterol in this cohort were started on a significantly higher initial albuterol dose (median 15, later 20 mg/h in the critical-asthma sub-analysis) than children who received preservative-free albuterol (median 10-15 mg/h), a difference that persisted even after restricting to a diagnostically matched critical-asthma sub-group.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Dosing was clinician-directed (per intensivist discretion), not protocolized or blinded, so the dose difference itself may reflect practice patterns around the two formulations rather than a physiological effect of benzalkonium chloride, and could independently confound the study's length-of-stay comparison.
Source: Al-Subu et al. 2023, Respir Care 68(6):734-739, Respiratory Care Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
When the comparison was restricted to children over age 2 with a critical-asthma diagnosis specifically (n=160), there was no significant difference between the benzalkonium-chloride and preservative-free albuterol groups in PICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, or any secondary outcome except the (still higher) initial albuterol dose.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Sub-analysis sample is smaller (n=160) than the full cohort (n=266), reducing power to detect a true difference; a null result here is consistent with, but does not prove, no effect.
Source: Al-Subu et al. 2023, Respir Care 68(6):734-739, Respiratory Care Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
Fragrance contact allergy is not rare in children: in a study of 1200 Danish school children aged 12-16, 1.6% of girls and 2.1% of boys tested positive to the fragrance mix, and one in three of them already had clinical symptoms.
Moderate evidence: Single study (secondary citation); the primary (Mortz 2002) is not yet in our evidence base.
Source: Johansen 2003, Am J Clin Dermatol 4(11):789-798, American Journal of Clinical Dermatology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Children have required hospitalization for severe allergic reactions to hair dyes (paraphenylenediamine).
Moderate evidence: Relayed from a single case series (Sosted et al. 2006, 8 children).
Source: Brasch 2007, Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
This report names pregnant and breastfeeding women, young children, teenagers, and cancer patients on anti-cancer treatment as groups who should be protected from continuous EDC exposure, because EDCs can cross the placenta and pass into breast milk.
Moderate evidence: No perfume-specific dose or exposure data for these populations is given.
Source: Tegengif 2022 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
Exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals during fetal development, infancy, and puberty can permanently reprogram how tissues develop, with effects that may not become visible until years or decades later; children are considered the most vulnerable population because of their hand-to-mouth behavior and higher metabolic rate.
Moderate evidence: This is the report's general developmental-programming framework, illustrated mainly with lead, PCBs, DES, and pesticides, not with fragrance chemicals.
Source: WHO/UNEP 2012 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Higher urinary BPA is linked to childhood and adolescent obesity in several large NHANES-based US studies; in one, children in the highest quarter of urinary BPA had more than double the odds of obesity of children in the lowest quarter.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Not all cohorts replicate this: a prospective study of 212 children found no association between urinary BPA and later body composition, and race-specific effects (seen in Whites but not Blacks or Hispanics in one NHANES analysis) suggest the association is not uniform.
Source: Dalamaga 2024, International Journal of Molecular Sciences Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
Before the 2010s, essentially every cosmetic-safety exposure estimate for adults rested on just two large industry-run studies — one European, one American — and there was no published consumption or exposure data at all for babies, children, adolescents, or pregnant women; that gap only started closing in the last decade.
Moderate evidence: A single review's characterization of the literature, not a primary measurement; two of its four authors work for a cosmetics manufacturer (Pierre Fabre).
Source: Ficheux 2019, systematic review of 82 studies, 2000-Feb 2018, Food and Chemical Toxicology Industry-funded Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
The Endocrine Society's 2025 position statement calls for EDC regulations to be designed to protect the most vulnerable populations, explicitly naming fetuses, children, pregnant women, and adolescents, because critical developmental windows such as fetal development and infancy affect vulnerability to EDC effects on later-life outcomes.
Moderate evidence: A general policy recommendation across all EDC-containing product categories, not specific to cosmetics or fragrance exposure.
Source: Endocrine Society 2025 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a New York City cohort, higher levels of low-molecular-weight phthalate breakdown products in mothers' third-trimester urine were associated with more aggressive, conduct, attention and depression-type behavior (and, on the executive-function questionnaire, only poorer emotional control and global composite) in their children ages 4-9 (Engel 2010).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Checked against the primary (2026-11-06). Single cohort (about 171 children); parent-rated, not diagnoses. Attention problems WAS statistically significant in the full sample (beta 1.29, 95% CI 0.16-2.41), contrary to the earlier caveat. Only emotional control and the global composite were significant on the executive-function scale. The signal is for the low-molecular-weight group (DEP, DBP, DiBP, DMP metabolites); high-molecular-weight (DEHP) was null. Sources not tied to fragrance. The 'later elevated ADHD symptoms' link in the video still comes from different cohorts (Cho 2010, Kim 2009, Park 2015).
Source: Engel 2010, cited in Kanwal 2017 review, Environmental Research Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA routinely assesses food additive exposure only for everyone aged 2 and older and for children aged 2 to 5, and for infant formula; other groups such as pregnant women are handled case by case. The review recommends a default 10-fold safety factor for children and pregnant women when data are limited.
Moderate evidence: A recommendation by Pew authors, not an FDA rule; the paper presents no data on harm to these groups.
Source: Maffini 2013, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA found atropine and scopolamine in one firm's belladonna infant teething tablets at highly variable levels from tablet to tablet, in a product marketed for infants and children under two.
Moderate evidence: No concentrations are reported; one firm only.
Source: FDA warning letter 17-NWJ-09, 20 Jun 2017 Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
FDA's 2019 draft listed products for infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised people as an enforcement priority for homeopathic drugs, because these groups may react to even small amounts of an ingredient and may skip proven treatments.
Moderate evidence: This is a stated priority for enforcement discretion, not a prohibition; FDA says many homeopathic products will fall outside the priority categories.
Source: FDA draft guidance, Drug Products Labeled as Homeopathic (Oct 2019) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA tested a King Bio children's homeopathic product, Dr. King's Kids Bedwetting and Teething Advanced Formula (made Nov 2017, tested Sept 2018), and found 'inordinately high' microbial contamination.
Moderate evidence: One named product, no counts given in the letter; no illness is reported.
Source: FDA warning letter to King Bio, 20 Mar 2019, FDA warning letter (20 March 2019) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA wrote that King Bio made 'hundreds of drugs including those intended for infants, children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised individuals' while its water and products repeatedly failed microbial limits.
Moderate evidence: FDA's description of the firm's range; it does not say how many of those products were contaminated.
Source: FDA warning letter to King Bio, 20 Mar 2019, FDA warning letter (20 March 2019) Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
FDA lists infants and children, pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised people among the groups it prioritizes for enforcement against unapproved homeopathic drugs, because they may react to even small amounts of an ingredient.
Moderate evidence: Enforcement priority statement, not a measured risk by group.
Source: FDA 2022 Homeopathic Drug Products guidance Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Other evidence
The largest single cost in the EU analysis is children's IQ loss and intellectual disability from organophosphate pesticide exposure, about EUR 146 billion a year before probability weighting, with a further EUR 9.6 billion for PBDE flame retardants.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
The panel rated human evidence moderate-to-high and probability of causation 70-100%, but the dollar value is a model output and about 76% of the pre-weighting EU total rests on this one relationship.
Children and pregnancy / Government agency
In EFSA's regulatory-maximum scenario, 95th-percentile polysorbate intake from food additives is 19.4-58.0 mg per kg body weight a day in toddlers and up to 63.7 in children, above the 25 mg/kg a day safe-intake limit for every age group; the brand-loyal refined scenario gives up to 37.4 (toddlers) and 57.5 (children).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Modeled high-end scenarios from industry-reported use levels and national diet surveys, not measured intakes; EFSA calls the maximum scenario conservative. Cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other sources not counted, three food categories lacked data.
Source: EFSA ANS Panel (2015), full opinion, EFSA Journal Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In 261 Korean children aged 8-11, those with higher urine levels of DEHP breakdown products (a plastic softener found in food packaging and vinyl) were rated by teachers as having more inattention and hyperactivity symptoms.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional, one spot urine taken at testing; symptom scale not a diagnosis; no family history of ADHD; the authors say no causal inference is possible. Association only. Overlapping Korean investigator group as Cho 2010; independence not confirmed.
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In a New York City study of 188 children, mothers with higher urine levels of low-molecular-weight phthalate breakdown products (from DEP, DBP and similar) in late pregnancy reported more conduct problems, aggression, attention problems and depression-type behavior in their 4-9-year-olds; the strongest effect was for conduct problems (about 2.4 points on a 50-mean T-score per log-unit increase).
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single cohort; one urine sample; about 171 children after attrition (177 of 404 women); parent-rated screening scales, not diagnoses; no multiple-comparison correction; the exposure group mixes DEP, DBP and DiBP from several sources; authors call for replication; the larger Norwegian MoBa study found these LMW metabolites null for ADHD diagnoses.
Source: Engel 2010, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Measured in people or real products
In 621 Korean school children (mean age 9), higher urine levels of DEHP breakdown products (MEHP, MEOHP) went with lower scores on a vocabulary test even after accounting for the mothers' IQ; the link was seen in boys, not girls.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Cross-sectional, one spot urine taken the same day as testing; no home-environment measure; FSIQ and VIQ associations disappeared after maternal IQ was added. Authors say they cannot claim a definitive independent relationship. Association only.
Source: Cho 2010, Environmental Health Perspectives Link to this fact
Children and pregnancy / Review of other studies
A 2015 systematic review of 11 human studies found that higher urinary phthalate metabolite levels in pregnancy or childhood were associated with poorer scores on tests of child cognition, behavior and attention in most of the studies, more often in boys.
Moderate evidence: Associational only; studies could not be pooled; three of the 11 share one cohort; the review's boys-vs-girls count does not reproduce from its own tables; not fragrance-specific.
Source: [[src-2015-phthalate-exposure-childrens-neurodevelopment-systematic|Ejaredar 2015]], Environmental Research Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.