EDC Science Weekly, Sept. 19-25, 2025

A summary of articles on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) added to PubMed this week.

Contents: Events, Regulations/Policy, Methods/Tools/Screening, Commentaries, Reviews/Meta-Analyses, Human Health Studies, Laboratory Studies, Exposure/Environment Studies

Highlights:

The effects of plastic exposures on children’s health and urgent opportunities for prevention
Microplastic abundance in placentae in cases of spontaneous miscarriage
PFAS exposure after interventions with cholestyramine/colesevelam and probenecid – cross-over trials in Ronneby, Sweden
Weak recovery of insectivorous bird populations after ban of neonicotinoid in France, hinting at lasting impacts

Science summaries and highlights

Events

Sept. 29 conference: REACH revision 2025: simpler, faster, bolder, in Brussels [HEAL and CHEM Trust]

Oct. 1 webinar: Addressing Chemical Mixtures: Opportunities for the REACH revision [EDC Strategies Partnership]

Oct. 14 webinar: ToxicDocs: A database of once-secret chemical industry documents [CHE]

Oct. 8 – Nov. 19 class: Plastics, Microplastics, and Human Health [Physician and Scientist Network Addressing Plastics and Health (P-SNAP)]

Oct. 9: Children’s Environmental Health Day

Oct. 22, Nov. 3, Nov. 10 webinar series: From Cells to Solutions: Emerging Tools for Studying Health and Disease [NIEHS Superfund Research Program]

Nov. 12 webinar: Toxic chemicals in plastics [Beyond Plastics]

Jan. 11-14: International Conference on Microplastics [in person in Santa Fe; abstracts due Oct. 1]

Note: HEEDS is now accepting applications for the Lou Guillette, Jr. Outstanding Young Investigator Award, due Sept. 30.

More events

Regulations/Policy

Beyond molecular structure: Comparing Australian and European regulatory approaches to nano-identification and classification

New report: The PFAS policy landscape across Europe

More EDC policy, FPF’s regulations open for comment, Science’s Trump-Tracker, and links to preserved resources removed from U.S. federal websites

Methods/Tools/Screening

Workshop Report: Scoping for the Development of a Proposal for an OECD Guidance Document on Fish Vitellogenin Assessment.

Mechanistic toxicity profiling of chemicals: a comparative study in 2D and 3D HepaRG models using High-Content Analysis.

Reflections on the NIEHS Virtual Consortium funding mechanism (ViCTER) and what it has taught us about the future of transdisciplinary science.

Evaluation of Endocrine Disruptome and VirtualToxLab for Predicting Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Binding to Nuclear Receptors.

Molecular docking for screening chemicals of environmental health concern: insight from a case study on bisphenols.

AI-driven hazard prioritization of plastic additives using Tox21 bioassays and self-supervised graph transformers.

The OASIS Consortium: Integrating Multi-Omics Technologies to Transform Chemical Safety Assessment.

Zebrafish Cell Lines and High-Throughput Transcriptomics: Advancing In vitro and Bioinformatics Methods for Supporting Environmental Risk Assessment.

In vitro disruption of the retinoic acid signaling pathway by industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Total organic fluorine to assess per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food contact materials: a call for harmonised methodologies.

Forum: cumulative effects assessment state-of-the-art.

Commentaries

Editorial- special issue: Environmental Chemicals and the Mammary Gland. [in Reproductive Toxicology]

Plastics in anaesthesia and critical care: beyond sustainability.

Comment on “Microplastic contaminations in a set of beverages sold in France” by Chaïb et al.

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

A Systematic Review of Estrogens as Emerging Contaminants in Water: A Global Overview Study from the One Health Perspective.

Environmental plastic pollutants and endocrine-related cancer: An updated view.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals: translating mechanisms into perinatal risk assessment.

Database-calibrated toxicity values for human health assessment based on existing toxicology data for one thousand chemicals.

Weighty Consequences: Pollution’s Hidden Weight in the Obesity Epidemic: A Narrative Review.

BPA/Phthalates

Bisphenol A and human fertility: a systematic review.

Toxic effects of phthalates on in vitro cellular models: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2014-2024).

Review of the effects of two major plastic compounds in arthropods: a call for increased interdisciplinarity and further studies at the population level. [BPA and DEHP]

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

From exposure to pathogenesis: A critical review of SCCPs-induced toxicity and potential molecular mechanisms.

PFAS

Early-Life Dietary Exposure to Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) Through Milk Consumption: A Systematic Review.

A review of human exposure to PFAS: substantial contribution from seafood.

Navigating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in organic waste streams: Sources, challenges and implications for circular economy recycling – A mini-review.

Activating PFAS to Unlock Efficient Defluorination.

Pesticides

Bifenthrin Under Scrutiny: Revisiting Toxicological Evidence Amid Regulatory Gaps.

Effects of exposure to insecticides on sleep and neurobehavioural functioning in puberty and adolescence: a scoping review.

Gaining Biological Insights Into Deltamethrin-Induced Toxicity and Resistance at the Molecular Level.

Are biopesticides really safe? Impacts on gut microbiota and intestinal health in freshwater fish.

Environmental reproductive toxicity of common pesticides: Mechanisms and implications throughout the zebrafish life cycle.

Metals/Metalloids

Heavy metal exposure and cognitive impairment: An umbrella review of meta-analyses.

Concentrations of Heavy Metals in Processed Baby Foods and Infant Formulas Worldwide: A Scoping Review.

The Mechanisms of Lead Toxicity in Living Organisms.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

The effects of plastic exposures on children’s health and urgent opportunities for prevention.

Multi-level ecotoxicity of biodegradable microplastic to aquatic organisms: A meta-analysis.

Micro (Nano)plastics Vitiation of Genetic Material: Systematic Review of Genotoxic Biomarkers and Model Bioindicators.

Microplastic pollution in water Systems of the Global South: A review.

A review on the biodegradation of textiles in the environment.

Microbial plastic degradation: enzymes, pathways, challenges, and perspectives.

In vivo biotoxicological assessment of nanoplastics and microplastics predicted using the zebrafish model.

Air Pollution

Epidemiological and mechanistic links between PM_2.5 exposure and type 2 diabetes: focus on the TRPV1 receptor.

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

The trophic transfer of pharmaceuticals and personal care products: A global systematic review and meta-analysis.

Human Health Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Community Perspectives on the Cumulative Impacts of Chemical and Non-Chemical Stressors in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

BPA/Phenols/Phthalates/Parabens

Associations of phenols, parabens, and phthalate compounds related to personal care products with osteoarthritis: evidence from population-based and network toxicology studies.

Exploring plasticisers-osteoporosis links and mechanisms: a cohort and network toxicology study.

The effect of paraben exposure on cognitive and behavioral outcomes in school children.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Polycystic ovary syndrome and organochlorine pesticides: exploring potential links and mechanisms.

Exploring the associations between prenatal PCB exposures and gene expression: Observations from a study of newborn Slovak infants.

PFAS

Serum, urinary and fecal concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances after interventions with cholestyramine/colesevelam and probenecid – cross-over trials in Ronneby, Sweden.

Individual and mixture associations of placental per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance with neurodevelopment at 12 and 24 months of age.

Pesticides

Comprehensive Biomarker Assessment of Pesticide Exposure and Telomere Attrition in Mexican Children from Agricultural Communities.

Association between urinary glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid concentrations and DNA damage biomarkers among rural populations in Taiwan.

Permethrin-Treated Baby Wraps for the Prevention of Malaria.

Metals/Metalloids

Associations Between Blood Heavy Metal Concentrations and Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy in the Japan Environment and Children’s Study.

DNA methylation signatures of arsenic exposure and obesity.

Albumin mediates the association between maternal exposure to multiple metals and gestational diabetes mellitus: Findings from the Guangxi Birth Cohort Study.

Associations Between Blood Metal Exposure and Hypertriglyceridemia Among Adults in NHANES, 2011-2018.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Microplastic abundance in placental chorionic villi detected by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in cases of spontaneous miscarriage during early pregnancy.

Air Pollution

The mediating role of gut microbiota in the influence of PM_2.5 exposure on gestational diabetes mellitus.

Ozone exposure, retinal microvasculature alterations, and the mediating effect of aging in diabetic population: A retrospective cohort study.

Association between long-term fine particulate matter exposure and incident type 2 diabetes in a low-exposure Danish cohort: An AIRCARD analysis.

Stress modifies pulmonary and inflammatory response to ozone: controlled human exposure study.

The differential impacts of environmental air pollution exposure on the risk of placenta previa and placenta accreta in twin pregnancies.

Unraveling the impact of prenatal air pollution for neonatal brain maturation.

Effect of long-term air pollution reduction on insulin resistance and fasting glucose in children: A causal analysis.

Long-term exposure to ultrafine particles and its association with cardiometabolic diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cardiometabolic biomarkers: A cross-sectional analysis of the German National cohort (NAKO).

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

Associations of maternal blood biomarkers of prenatal APAP exposure with placental gene expression and child attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Unraveling the Environmental Links to Feline Hyperthyroidism: Insights from Silicone Passive Samplers.

Perinatal Neurodevelopmental Effects of Endocrine Disruptors: Insights from Metabolome Mapping in the Rat Hippocampus.

Effect of environmentally relevant concentrations of estrogens on the fear-like response of male zebrafish.

BPA/Phenols

Exploring the potential toxic mechanisms of bisphenol F exposure in acute myeloid leukemia: Insights from network toxicology, molecular docking and experimental validation.

Integrative Genetic, Single-Cell and Mechanistic Dissection Identifies Bisphenol A as a Causal Driver of Preeclampsia via Fibroblast-Derived IL-6/STAT3 Signaling.

Direct Comparison of the Impacts of Bisphenol A, Bisphenol F, and Bisphenol S in a Male Rat 28-Day Oral Exposure Study.

BPA exposure activated estrogen receptor α (ER-α) and ROS to induce pyroptosis in cochlear hair cells.

Exploring the genotoxic potential of Bisphenol A and its emerging alternatives in an advanced in vitro 3D zebrafish hepatic cell model.

PFAS

Early life perfluorooctanoic acid exposure induces long-lasting effects on social behaviors in adult mice.

Inulin attenuates reproductive toxicity caused by prenatal and lactation GenX exposure through modulating the hypothalamicpituitarytesticular (HPT) axis via the LH/cAMP/StAR pathway in male mice.

Hexafluoropropylene Oxide Homologues, the Novel Alternatives to PFOA, Induce Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Cytotoxicity in Leydig Cells through Disrupting SIRT1/PGC-1α Signaling Pathway.

Emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) cause intestinal toxicity in marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma).

Mitochondrial-Targeted MitoQ Attenuates PFOS-Induced Vasoconstriction and cAMP Suppression in Human Placental Arteries.

Flame Retardants

2-Ethyl-Hexyldiphenyl Phosphate (EHDPP) Induces Cytotoxicity by Activation of Autophagy Process in HepG2 Cells.

Neurocognitive and neurobiological effects of low dose organophosphate exposure.

Deciphering pathogenic mechanisms of BDCPP Exposure in endometrial cancer progression via an integrated approach combining network toxicology, machine learning, and molecular docking.

Pesticides

Umbelliferone reverses neuronal damage induced by chronic Chlorpyrifos exposure via suppressing NF-κB/STAT3/NLRP3 and boosting Keap-1/Nrf2/HO-1 signals.

Melatonin Mitigates Abamectin-Induced Subacute Hematotoxicity and Hepato-Renal Toxicity in Rats by Regulating Oxidative Stress, Inflammatory Responses, and Apoptosis.

Endocrine effects of Imazalil on aromatase expression, vitellogenesis and ovarian histology using cyp19a1a-eGFP-casper transgenic zebrafish.

Toxic Mechanisms of Fipronil in Human Astrocytes and the Protective Effect of Vitamin E on Fipronil-Induced Toxicity.

Impact of chronic exposure to field-level glyphosate on the gut microbiota of Apis cerana and Apis mellifera.

Metals/Metalloids

CYP2C18-EETs-mediated arachidonic acid metabolism results in ferroptosis in arsenic-induced hepatic insulin resistance.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Different types of nanoplastics exert varying degrees of toxicity on human sperm at semen-related concentrations.

Assessment of microplastic toxicity on blood-testis barrier using 3D cell spheroids.

Integrated Biomarker, Histopathological and Genotoxicity-Based Toxicological Evaluation of Polystyrene and Polyethylene Microplastics in Oreochromis mossambicus.

Effects of microplastics on survival, reproduction, and the microbiome of the freshwater oligochaete Tubifex tubifex.

Unravelling the toxicity mechanisms of polystyrene nanoplastics on physiological and transcriptomic responses of the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum.

Impact of nanoplastics on thyroid function: Unraveling cellular biokinetics, molecular mechanisms and human risk assessment.

The plastic threat to marine gastropods: Oxidative stress, energy metabolism and impaired recovery in juvenile abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) exposed to polystyrene microplastics.

Polystyrene nanoplastics induced lung injury in mice: Insights into lung metabolic disorders.

Oral exposure to micro- and nanoplastics generated from polyethylene terephthalate suppresses acute intestinal damage in vivo.

Toxicological Assessment of Microplastics in Zebrafish: Biochemical Responses and Histopathological Changes.

Air Pollution

Ozone and PM_2.5 co-exposure induced neurodegenerative alterations in mice: Implication of mitochondrial dysfunction in glial cells.

Air pollution modulates brown adipose tissue function through epigenetic regulation by HDAC9 and KDM2B.

Miscellaneous

Oral exposure to tire rubber-derived contaminant 6PPD and 6PPD-quinone induces intestinal toxicity in mice.

Exposure/Environment Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Assessment of environmental knowledge and needs among infertile couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART): insights from a pilot survey.

PFAS

Characterization of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Drinking Water Sources in the Greater Montreal Area, Quebec, Canada.

Driving factors, chain-length sensitivity and source identification of perfluoroalkyl acids in central China: Based on different PM_2.5 levels perspective.

Short-chain PFAS in coastal sediments: PFBS-driven antimicrobial resistance and pathogen risks.

Perfluorinated alkyl acids in surface and deep water from the Western Indian Ocean: A comparison with global data.

Pesticides

Weak recovery of insectivorous bird populations after ban of neonicotinoid in France, hinting at lasting impacts.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

First Evidence of Microplastic Ingestion by an Arboreal Primate.

First assessment of microplastic exposure from heated liquid herbal medicine: Packaging breakdown and ingestion risk.

——-

This list is not meant to be exhaustive, and generally does not include studies on detection, remediation, or treatment of EDCs. Industry-funded articles are included without notation. Note that journal publication dates may be different from dates added to PubMed. To see the searchable archives, please email me and ask to join the EDC Science Weekly group EDC_research@googlegroups.com. There are searchable archives. Compiled by Sarah Howard of Healthy Environment and Endocrine Disruptor Strategies (HEEDS), a program of Environmental Health Sciences.

If you enjoy this newsletter, please feel free to donate here! Thank you!