Skip to main content
Tessa NewsLink
Paste a health news link, or browse

Source study found

Story checked

Plastic Exposure Before Birth Linked to ADHD And Autism Symptoms. Here's What You Need to Know. : ScienceAlert (opens in a new tab)

Plastic Exposure Before Birth Linked to ADHD And Autism Symptoms. Here's What You Need to Know. · 2026-09-11

Short answerEvidenceSource

Short answer

Needs review

Study found.

We found the study, but the claim check did not finish.

Checked against the study summary. The full text wasn't available, so some details couldn't be settled either way.

Share this check

Follow the evidence trail
1

The story

Plastic Exposure Before Birth Linked to ADHD And Autism Symptoms. Here's What You Need to Know. : ScienceAlert

Plastic Exposure Before Birth Linked to ADHD And Autism Symptoms. Here's What You Need to Know. · 2026-09-11

The story’s checkable claims.

Read the original story (opens in a new tab)
2

NewsLink checks it

We found the study behind this story.

We found the study, but couldn't compare the story to it: the study's evidence could not be profiled.

Open claim evidence
3

The source study

Prenatal exposure to the plasticizer DEHP increases the likelihood of early-life autism and ADHD symptoms through epigenetic programming

Med · 2026
Open source record (opens in a new tab)
Then inspect each claim

Evidence layer

Claim by claim

The source study was found, but the study's evidence could not be profiled, so these claims couldn't be checked.

Claim 1 of 5Not checkedA new study in Med linked the likelihood of autism and ADHD symptoms in early life to in-utero exposure to the plasticizer DEHP.View evidenceHide evidence

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 2 of 5Not checkedThe study looked at children's behavioral traits at ages two and four and how they correlated with estimated prenatal DEHP exposure.View evidenceHide evidence

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 3 of 5Not checkedResearchers reported that infants exposed to higher levels of DEHP before birth showed distinctive changes in DNA methylation in umbilical cord blood at birth.View evidenceHide evidence

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 4 of 5Not checkedChildren who carried this epigenetic signature went on to show more autism- and ADHD-related symptoms at ages two and four, with clearer effects in males than females.View evidenceHide evidence

As stated21 percent of the link

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 5 of 5Not checkedThe article says the study was observational, used one urine sample from pregnant mothers at 36 weeks to estimate DEHP exposure, and relied on parent questionnaires rather than clinical diagnoses of autism or ADHD.View evidenceHide evidence

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Finally, the search trail

Method layer

NewsLink found the paper. Tessa takes you deeper.

NewsLink checks the story. Tessa is where you inspect the paper, authors, evidence, and research context.

Open the paper in Tessa

Prenatal exposure to the plasticizer DEHP increases the likelihood of early-life autism and ADHD symptoms through epigenetic programming

Med · 2026

Source record (opens in a new tab)

Why this one

Near certain

NewsLink found the paper. Tessa is where you inspect it deeply.

Papers considered

The selected paper, plus nearby candidates.

Crossref, PubMed, Europe PMC · 16 candidate papers

Selected

Prenatal exposure to the plasticizer DEHP increases the likelihood of early-life autism and ADHD symptoms through epigenetic programming

Med · 2026 · Crossref

Source (opens in a new tab)

And 10 more candidates considered.