Exposure to hairspray in the workplace may increase a woman’s chance of giving birth to a child with hypospadias, says a new European study. The findings suggest that women working in beauty and hairdressing industries during pregnancy are exposed to phthalates, the industrial compound in hairspray, which interferes with the body’s hormonal system and causes hypospadias. The study included 471 UK women who had given birth to children with hypospadias between 1997 and 1998.