EDC Science Weekly, Jan. 2-8, 2026

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:

Associations between concentrations of microplastics in follicular fluid and the risk of diminished ovarian reserve.
Impact of placental microplastics on birth anthropometrics: A cross-sectional study.
The inflammatory path toward type 1 diabetes begins during pregnancy. [PFAS]

Science summaries and highlights

Events

Jan. 11 – 14: Microplastics exposure and human health conference [in person in Santa Fe, NM]

Jan. 15: application due date for May 26 – June 9 course, Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Hazards and Opportunities (ECHO) [Marine Biological Laboratory]

Jan. 15: application due date for travel awards for the June 8 – 10 National PFAS Conference, in person in Tucson AZ. Abstracts are due Jan. 31.

Jan. 21 webinar: The Race to Research: Plastic, Microplastics, and Human Health [Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment]

Jan. 22 webinar: CHE Café: How states can lead on environmental health [CHE]

Jan. 23: application due date for the Endocrine Society’s Research Experiences for Graduate and Medical Students program.

Feb. 27 application due date for the Endocrine Society’s Kaiser-Goldberg Research Fellowship program.

June 28 – July 3: New and emerging threats, approaches, and mitigation strategies for environmental endocrine disruptors [Gordon Research Conference] and accompanying Gordon Research Seminar June 27 – 28, Harnessing interdisciplinary evidence for endocrine disruption. Abstracts due Jan 20, submit here.

Save the date: Oct. 12-16, conference: MICRO 2026: Plastic pollution from macro to nano [in Cadiz, Spain]

Regulations/Policy

Plastics in transition: Global regulations and emerging technologies for sustainable management.

Benchmarking environmental risks of plant protection products: Toward a comparative and systems-based approach in the EU pesticide regulation.

More EDC policy, FPF’s regulations open for comment, and Science’s Trump-Tracker.

Methods/Tools/Screening

The E-Morph Screening Assay: Phenotypic Screening for Estrogenic or Anti-estrogenic Compound Activities.

MoltiTox: a multimodal fusion model for molecular toxicity prediction.

Predicting acute developmental toxicity of chemicals in embryos of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis): calibration and validation of regression-based quantitative structure activity relationship models for hazard assessment of chemicals in anuran amphibians.

Development and Analysis of the Adverse Outcome Pathway Network for Neurotoxicity.

Zebrafish sperm toxicity tests: An emerging in vitro and in vivo model for male reproductive toxicity.

Commentaries

Childhood Cancer and the Environment: Activating Clinicians for Prevention, a special issue of Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care

The way forward for assessing the human health safety of cosmetics in the EU: Proceedings of Workshop 2.

Rethinking sustainable pathways for PFAS.

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

The influence of environmental exposures during the preconception period on offspring outcomes: a systematic review.

Maternal Nutrition, Toxicants, and Epigenetic Programming of Obesity Across Generations.

The Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences published a number of reviews on EDCs, including:

Bisphenols

Bisphenols and their role in female infertility and hormone-related cancer.

PFAS

Towards smart PFAS management: Integrating artificial intelligence in water and wastewater systems.

Metals/Metalloids

Lead-induced neurotoxic effects on the synaptic signalling pathways and its association with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review.

Meta-analysis of maternal exposure to heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium) and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Association between maternal exposure to mercury during pregnancy and birth weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Micro- and nanoplastics and brain sexual differentiation: an emerging neurodevelopmental threat within the DOHaD framework.

Microplastics in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: An emerging threat to liver health.

Human health risk assessment of nanoparticles through food consumption – occurrence, exposure, and toxicological implications.

Micro-Nano Plastics and 6-PPD-Q in Cardio-Pulmonary Health: Environmental Sources, Systemic Exposure, and Mechanistic Insights.

Quantitative human biomonitoring of micro- and nanoplastics: Exposure profiles, mechanistic insights, and health implications.

Microplastic Exposure and Its Dual Impact on Metabolic Syndrome and Pathways of Colorectal Carcinogenesis: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological, Experimental, and Mechanistic Evidence.

Coupled Bibliometric and Systematic Review on the Molecular Effects of Estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Microplastics in Mollusks.

Nanoplastics toxicity in aquatic organisms: a review of effects on selected marine and freshwater species.

Air Pollution

Linking Particulate Matter Exposure and Neurological Disorders: Evidence from Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Mechanistic Studies.

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

Comprehensive review of octocrylene toxicology data and human exposure assessment for personal care products.

Human Health Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Intrauterine Exposure to Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals and Risk of Hypospadias: A Pilot Study.

Elevated exposure to environmental chemicals among individuals with substance use disorder.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Potential Folate-Depleting Effect of Organochlorine Pesticide Exposure in Elevating Homocysteine Levels. [human and lab study]

PFAS

The inflammatory path toward type 1 diabetes begins during pregnancy.

Impact of lactational per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure on infant gut microbiota and potential mediating effects on infant neurodevelopment.

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) associate with alterations in adipokine levels and eating behavior in the first 2 years of life.

Association between prenatal PFAS exposure and catch-up growth in children born with adverse outcomes: evidence from a prospective cohort study.

The moderating role of vitamin E in the association between PFAS exposures and diabetes risk: Evidence from the NHANES 2017-2018.

From association to mechanism: Prenatal PFAS Co-exposures induces fetal neural tube defects via autophagy-mediated ferroptosis. [human and lab study]

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure and endometriosis risk: Evidence from epidemiologic, network toxicology, and molecular docking.

Integrating nontargeted metabolomics and machine learning to assess PFAS exposure associations with liver cancer risk.

Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and neurodevelopmental trajectories in the first two years of life.

Flame Retardants

Impact of prenatal exposure to organophosphate flame retardants and organophosphorus pesticides on neurodevelopment in four-year-old children: Evidence from the Shanghai birth cohort.

Pesticides

Sex-specific associations of prenatal multiple pesticides exposure and early childhood neurodevelopment: Evidence from SMBCS in China.

Association Between Maternal Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides During Pregnancy and Wheezing up to 3 Years of Age: The Japan Environment and Children’s Study.

Associations of urinary glyphosate with sarcopenia and muscle mass: Insights from NHANES.

Metals/Metalloids

Cumulative childhood lead exposure estimation and school-age IQ in a prospective birth cohort.

The impact of prenatal maternal-fetal metal levels and placental transfer efficiency of metals on neonatal thyroid function: The modulatory role of maternal vitamin D levels in pregnancy.

Arsenic Exposure and Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Children: A Cross‑Sectional Study.

Sequential Mediation by Maternal Weight Gain and Late Blood Metal Concentration in the Association Between Heavy Metal Exposure in Early Pregnancy and Fetal Growth.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Associations between concentrations of microplastics in follicular fluid and the risk of diminished ovarian reserve.

Impact of placental microplastics on birth anthropometrics: A cross-sectional study.

Polyethylene terephthalate and polypropylene microplastic bioaccumulation in human blood and cancerous tissues in Algerian cases.

Air Pollution

Long-term and short-term exposure to outdoor air pollution and its association with glycolipid metabolic disorders.

Household Air Pollution Exposure is Associated with Perturbations in Metabolic Pathways in Human Milk: An Observational Untargeted Metabolomics Analysis from Guatemala.

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Effects of endocrine disruptor mixtures on functions of cultured porcine ovarian follicular cells.

From Gut to Brain: Glyphosate and Triclosan Impair Microbiome Composition, Neuroactive Metabolites, and Cognitive and Ecological Fitness in Daphnia magna.

Endocrine disruptors in aquatic environments: evaluating the toxicity of Bisphenol-A and diethyl phthalate.

Exploring the immunomodulatory effects of environmental contaminants on autoimmune patients: An in vitro approach.

Bisphenols

Comparative study on the neurotoxicity of five Bisphenols using zebrafish embryos/larvae models.

Bisphenol TMC exhibits greater estrogenic activity than Bisphenol A and three other structural analogues exemplified by higher estrogen receptor α-mediated gene expression and breast cancer cell proliferation.

β-caryophyllene mitigates metabolic dysfunction in the testes of gerbils perinatally exposed to BPA.

Transport of Bisphenol Analogues and Their Conjugated Metabolites Across Human Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier.

Bisphenol AP promotes pulmonary fibrosis by regulating macrophage function in a bleomycin-induced mouse model.

Covalently Active Metabolites of Bisphenol A Analogs by Mass Spectrometry Diagnostic Ions: Possible Mechanisms of Their Toxicity.

Phthalates

Integrative Analysis of DEHP Exposure and Prostate Cancer: Mechanistic Insights and Predictive Modeling.

Effects of prenatal DINP exposure induced hepatic steatosis and underlying mechanism.

Di-n-pentyl phthalate exposure alters intestinal structure and gut microbiota composition and characteristics in mice.

Network toxicology and Mendelian randomization reveal pathogenic factors of monoethyl phthalate-induced thyroid cancer.

Developmental neurotoxicity evaluation of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and three alternative plasticizers in human neurospheres.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Polychlorinated biphenyl 153 alters the intestinal epithelial cell transcriptome.

PFAS

Perfluorooctane sulfonate aggravates intimal hyperplasia and atherosclerosis by promoting phenotypic switching of smooth muscle cells via ERK/tPA pathway.

Perfluorooctanoic Acid Exposure Causes Macrophage Ammonia Retention and Induces Spontaneous Miscarriages.

Investigating in vivo toxicity of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) mixtures on the development of zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos as a model for environmental impact.

Computational screening reveals class-wide CYP19A1 binding potential across per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

An integrated in vitro and in silico testing strategy applied to PFAS inhibition of antibody production to define a tolerable daily intake.

Evaluation of a mother-child dyad toxicokinetic model paired with environmental doses for estimation of serum per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in early life.

Flame Retardants

Mechanistic Insights into TDCPP-Induced DNA Damage in GT1-7 Cells.

In vivo high-throughput toxicity screening of brominated flame retardants using a Caenorhabditis elegans transcription factor RNAi platform.

Organotins

Tributyltin Protumorigenic Effects Targeting Prostate Cancer Cell Metabolism, Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion.

Pesticides

Developmental toxicity of two organophosphate pesticides in Zebrafish embryo: Comparative and combinatorial assessment of neuro- and cardio-toxicity of sub-lethal concentrations of chlorpyrifos and malathion.

Exposure to Chlorpyrifos Influences Epididymal Development in Pubescent Rats.

Fenitrothion exposure induces hyperglycemia in juvenile rats: Impeded glycolysis and promoted gluconeogenesis mediated by acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate metabolism dysregulation.

Multi-organ toxicity via oxidative stress and disrupting mitochondrial plasticity induced by bendiocarb in zebrafish.

Integrated network toxicology and molecular docking are used to elucidate the mechanism by which chlorpyrifos induces hepatotoxicity (Cyprinus carpio).

BeeMSAI: A multi-dimensional evaluation strategy for honeybee toxicity in agrochemicals integrating mode of action, structural analysis, and AI-powered prediction.

Metals/Metalloids

Chronic exposure to selenium through a natural diet (Lumbriculus variegatus) resulted in endocrine disruption, and reproductive impairment in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Maternal Exposure to Polypropylene Nanoplastics Disrupts Sex- and Region-Specific Lipid Metabolism in the Brains of C57BL/6N Mouse Offspring.

Polystyrene nanoplastics disrupted cholesterol/testosterone homeostasis via Smurf1-dependent FTO degradation.

Biochemical impacts of polyethylene terephthalate microplastics and cadmium on Danio rerio under environmental conditions.

Combined exposure to titanium nanoparticles and nanoplastics damages the male reproductive system and sperm activity.

PET microplastics induce lipotoxicity in the porcine pancreas.

Transcriptomic analysis of preimplantation mouse embryos exposed to nanoplastics using RNA sequencing.

Engineered and Weathered Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Microplastics and Nanoplastics Induce Form and Size-Dependent Oxidative Stress, Oxidative DNA Damage, and Cytotoxicity in MCF-7 Cells.

Miscellaneous

Parental benzo[a]pyrene exposure and timing of reproduction determine the magnitude and persistence of transgenerational toxicity in marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma).

Network toxicology and multi-omics analyses identify diagnostic genes and elucidate underlying mechanisms of 6PPDQ-induced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Environmentally relevant 6PPD-quinone drives personality-specific behavioral abnormalities in juvenile grouper through interplay between neuroinflammation and gut microbial dysbiosis.

Exposure/Environment Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Suspect and non-target screening of exposure biomarkers in urine from Korean adults: Mining archived data for insights from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey 3rd Cycle.

Gulls foraging in highly urbanized areas experience disruption in hormones and energetic metabolism.

PFAS

Legacy and emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in marine food webs from Liaodong Bay: Levels, bioaccumulation, biomagnification and source apportionment.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in China’s wastewater, surface water, and groundwater: occurrence characteristics, spatiotemporal distribution, and risk assessment.

Pesticides

Mapping research trends of the effects of fipronil and neonicotinoids on pollinators: global insights for Colombia.

Metals/Metalloids

Human biomonitoring in support of the Minamata Convention: a case of phasing out dental amalgam.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Microplastics in muscle and blubber of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarusdivergens).

Dominance of cellulosic and synthetic microfibers in upper layers of the Atlantic Ocean: evidence from the Vendée globe 2020 race.

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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.

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