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While this study regarding the male birth defect hypospadias and hairspray is newly published, the births it is based upon are more than 10 years old. The boys in question were born Englland in 1997 and 1998. This British study estimated that the incidence of hyospadias is 1 in 250 in both the U.K. and the United States, but a press release earlier this year from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that the hypospadias incidence in the United States has increased to nearly one in 100. Further, the British study found that folic acid supplementation greatly reduced the incidence of hypspadias. Since the United States Food and Drug Administration has required that all grains and cereals be enriched with folic acid since 1996, one would think that if lack of folic acid contributed toward the occurrence of hypospadias, there would be a downward trend in this birth defect, rather than a sharp upward trend. Clearly, we must look further than hairspray for what is causing this disturbing birth defect, which -- according to the CDC's recent information -- is also increasing in severity.