Pregnant women are now being warned against the use of hairspray, as new evidence suggests that chemicals they contain are strongly linked to an increasingly common birth defect in boys.
This alert comes in light of a new study, published in the International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, that
revealed that mothers who used hairspray regularly when pregnant were almost twice as likely to give birth to boys with the genital condition hypospadias.
In fact, the use of hair cosmetic alone was found to raise the risk of this birth defect by
80 percent.
According to the report, Hypospadias (a condition where the urine opening emerges on the shaft or even the base of the penis, instead of at the tip) affects about one in 250 men, and can often result in lifelong physical and emotional trauma.
As well as this, the condition is also linked with undescended testes and fertility problems.
Researchers at Amiens University Hospital in France who looked into the connection theorised that the chemicals often found in hairspray (and certain colour shampoos) disrupt male hormones and interfere with the developed of the male genitalia in the crucial first three months of the pregnancy.
"This is the first study to demonstrate a link between maternal household exposure to these two hair cosmetics during early pregnancy and the incidence of hypospadias," the team of doctors who carried out the research explain.
"The precautionary principle should apply to pregnant women and they should be advised to limit their use of hair cosmetic."
Another study into the same condition also found an increased risk of newborns with hypospadias in women hairdressers.
According to statistics, about 1,500 operations to correct hypospadias are carried out each year and experts claim the incidence is increasing, with the number affected more than doubling in a generation.
This is what Paul Anderson, consultant urologist at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, had to say to
MailOnline about the findings of the study:
"The causes of the condition are not known, but hormones are very obviously involved, and the theory suggested in this new research is very plausible. At a very early stage in the pregnancy, the urethra is flat but at a critical point in development, it becomes a tube. If the hormonal mix in the womb is not right, that development may not happen or may be abnormal."
