EDC Science Weekly, Apr. 3-9, 2026

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

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

Events

Apr. 9 webinar (today!): The Plastic Detox: A Conversation About Plastic & Health [Plastic Pollution Coalition]

Apr. 14 science seminar: Development and real-life application of adverse outcome pathways for endocrine disruption [ECHA]

Apr. 23 webinar: Assessing exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals through ultra-processed foods [Philadelphia Regional Center for Children’s Environmental Health]

May 5 hybrid symposium: NAMs and TAMs (New and Traditional Approaches and Methodologies): The Future of Laboratory-Based Environmental Health and Toxicology Research for Harm Reduction [Duke Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program]

May 6: ECHO Symposium: Translating Science to Action (hybrid) [NIH]

May 7 webinar: New science on neonicotinoids: Reproductive and neurodevelopmental health effects [CHE]

May 7 webinar: The Plastic Detox: A Free Educational Webinar on the New Documentary Film [Beyond Plastics]

May 29 conference: HEEDS EDC-North Carolina Annual Scientific Meeting [in person in Raleigh]

Summer 2026: Registration is open for the Skills for Health and Research Professionals (SHARP) Training program [Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health]. Early-bird registration due Apr. 15.

June 10: TSCA Reform: 10 years later (hybrid) [Environmental Law Institute]

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.

July 8-10: U.S. Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) annual meeting (Raleigh NC); Trainee day July 8; Abstracts due April 16.

July 15 due date: Call for papers: Bridging Human and Animal Studies to Better Understand How Environmental Factors Impact Human Reproductive and Developmental Health: Celebrating Professor Shanna H. Swan for Her Outstanding Achievements in the Field [Reproductive Toxicology]

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

Methods/Tools/Screening

Application of in vitro new approach methodologies data to chemical risk assessment: current status and perspectives toward next generation risk assessment.

Organoids in environmental toxicology: Applications, advantages, and future prospects.

Interpretable Machine Learning to Understand Wildfire Toxicity: Bridging Chemicals, Omics, and Toxicological Outcomes via Symbolic Regression with Novel Feature Scoring.

Best Practices for the Development and Application of Bioinformatics Approaches for Species Extrapolation in Chemical Safety Assessment.

The hidden fluorine: a critical review of analytical methods for unmasking PFAS and closing fluorine mass balance in environmental samples.

Experiences of clinicians engaged in report-back of individual chemical exposures in two pregnancy cohorts.

Commentaries

Addressing PFAS contamination in India: a call for comprehensive action, policy progress, and pathway forward.

Persistence Assessment of Chemicals: Trajectories toward New Approach Methodologies (P-NAMs).

Reframing the Coronary Heart Disease Epidemic—The Role of Lead Exposure

Microplastics and oral health.

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

From phthalates to microplastics: Emerging and unresolved biocompatibility risks in extracorporeal circulation.

Genetic and environmental risk factors of Parkinsonism.

Phthalates

Mechanistic insights and ameliorative strategies: advances in DEHP-induced metabolic toxicity and intervention by natural bioactive compounds and probiotics.

PFAS

Health hazards of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances via nuclear receptors.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): persistence, toxicity, and emerging solutions.

Analysis of ultra-short-chain and short-chain PFAS in environmental samples: A review.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) analysis in plastics and other polymer-based materials for recycling: Progress, limitations, and regulatory implications.

Pesticides

Prenatal exposure to pesticides and the risk of male genital malformations: a scoping review.

Organophosphorus Pesticides in the Natural Environment: Detection Methods, Distribution, and Toxic Effects.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Emerging evidence on micro- and nanoplastics carcinogenicity: mechanisms, models, and signaling networks.

Effects of microplastics on the intestines.

Microplastics and neurotoxicity: could prenatal exposure to microplastics boost congenital enteric neuropathies?

Microplastics, nanoplastics and liver disease: an emerging health concern?

Endocrine Disruption and Reproductive Health in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Systematic Review of Microplastics.

Nanoplastic-driven white pollution: Biochemical insights into ecosystem and human health impacts – a critical-interpretative narrative review.

Human Health Studies

Bisphenols/Phenols/Parabens/Triclosan

Pregnancy exposure to environmental phenols and breastfeeding duration in the HOME Study.

Individual and Joint Association of Phenol and Paraben Exposure with Asthma Outcomes among US Adults: A Nationally Representative Cross-sectional Study.

Non-persistent environmental chemical mixture and gestational hypertension, blood pressure, and blood pressure trajectories during pregnancy.

Phthalates

Association between maternal urinary phthalate metabolites in early and late pregnancy and neonatal birth outcomes: A cohort analysis.

Longitudinal patterns of urinary biomarkers of placental and renal function in pregnancy and associations with early pregnancy exposure to phthalates and replacements.

Associations of urinary and follicular fluid phthalate exposure with salpingitis in women seeking fertility treatment.

Association Between Environmental Chemicals Phthalates and Stroke Among the US Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Maternal Exposure to Organochlorine Pesticides and Epigenetic Alterations in Unexplained Recurrent Miscarriage.

PFAS

Prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure and child neurodevelopment from birth to age 7: A prospective study in the Laizhou Wan Birth Cohort.

Serum per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and bone mineral density in Norwegian adolescents: sex-specific associations and mixture effects.

Higher serum PFDA is associated with increased non-melanoma skin cancer odds in NHANES 2003-2018.

Pesticides

Age at menarche and exposure to non-persistent pesticides in Spanish girls from the INMA (Environment and Childhood) Project.

Associations of pesticide exposures with lipid profiles and mediation by metabolic pathways in children.

Pesticide Exposure and the Risk of Ovarian Cancer among Postmenopausal Women in Rural Punjab, India.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Composite polyphenols mitigate microplastic exposure-related immune disturbances: a two-phase population trial.

Air Pollution

Association between Great Salt Lake desiccation, air quality, and major depressive episodes: an ecological study.

Impact of Lifestyle on the Association between Ambient Air Pollution and Insulin Resistance.

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Halogenated Phenolic Ingredients of Household and Personal Care Products Modulate Thyroid Receptor Signaling.

Integrating multi-omics and network toxicology to identify FIS1 as a key target of environmental pollutants in male infertility.

Synergistic Neurotoxicity of environmental Cadmium and Paraquat in Parkinsonism: Unveiling the Mito-ROS/OPA1/Caspase-3/GSDME-driven Apoptosis Axis.

Bisphenols/Phenols

Environmentally Relevant Low-Dose Bisphenol A Enhances Invasion of Human Extravillous Trophoblasts with Associated Increases in MMP Activity.

Toxic effects of bisphenol M, a bisphenol A substitute, on early developmental stages of marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma).

Bisphenol S and High-Fat Diet Drive Structural and Inflammatory Remodeling of the Colon in C57Bl/6 Male Mice.

Bisphenol F impairs spermatogenesis via UCP2-related oxidative stress and autophagy dysregulation.

Cordycepin-mediated protection against bisphenol A-induced male reproductive toxicity via PI3K/mTOR/HIF-1α signaling.

Protective roles of gallic acid and lycopene against 4-nonylphenol induced testicular damage in SD rats.

Phthalates

Integrative Network Toxicology Reveals Lipoprotein Lipase as a Key Mediator of Dibutyl Phthalate-Associated Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Machine learning identifies molecular targets of Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Integrating network toxicology and experimental validation reveals the immunotoxic effects of acetylcitric acid tributyl ester on systemic lupus erythematosus. [a phthalate replacement]

Antioxidant and anti-apoptotic effects of curcumin-loaded nanoliposomes against di-n-butyl phthalate-induced hepatorenal damage in rats.

Role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate-induced renal toxicity and its amelioration by 4-phenylbutyric acid.

Parabens/Triclosan/Antimicrobials

Acute triclosan exposure induces multidimensional toxicity in zebrafish larvae: Disruption of development, behavior, immune function, and cell death mechanisms.

Metabolomic changes associated with behavioral and molecular findings: Triclocarban toxicity in the zebrafish model.

PFAS

Human cerebral organoids reveal PFOA-induced axonal injury as a conserved mechanism of neurodevelopmental disruption.

Short- and long-term effects of early-life exposure to PFOS or its alternative PFBS on pulmonary development.

Exposure to OBS induces endothelial dysfunction via miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks: implications for cardiovascular disease risk. [a PFAS alternative]

Flame Retardants

In vitro screening of 13 diverse organic flame retardants reveals that phosphorous-based compounds elicit greater effects on cell viability and gene expression in chicken hepatic cells.

Molecular mechanisms of DBDPE-induced spermatogenic disorder: A network toxicology, machine learning, and in vivo experimental validation.

Pesticides

Dietary Glyphosate at the Regulatory “Safe” Level Worsens Colitis via a Gut Microbiota-Derived Palmitic Acid-JAK-STAT Pathway.

The main metabolite of fipronil, fipronil sulfone triggers morphological and functional damage to SerW3 cells and dysfunction in blood-testis barrier.

Developmental toxicity and thyroid hormone receptor antagonism of chlorothalonil in zebrafish: insights from transcriptomics and in vitro assays.

Trace amounts of insecticide, herbicide, and their combination disrupt the bacterial and fungal microbiome of a nontarget aquatic invertebrate.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Colonic Barrier Dysfunction and Inflammation Induced by Nano-/Micro-Plastics Fibers in Mice via the FAK/NF-κB/iNOS and TLR4/NF-κB/iNOS Pathways.

Multi-omics analysis reveals polyethylene microplastics-induced gill damage, metabolic disruption and immune dysregulation in Lateolabrax maculatus.

Effects of micro/nanoplastics combined with three anthropogenic chemicals on larval zebrafish (Danio rerio): study of toxicity, behaviour and assessment of uptake.

Mechanical stress-induced microplastic release from bottle caps: Insights on material properties and their impact on cellular toxicity.

Co-exposure to PET and PFOA elicits time-dependent synergistic hepatotoxicity and a “two-hit” mechanism in the freshwater snail Cipangopaludina cathayensis.

Microplastics enhance the risk of cross-genus dissemination of carbapenemase resistance plasmids in ICU patients.

Oral Exposure to Polypropylene Microplastics Exacerbates Cow’s Milk Allergy in a Murine Model by Skewing the DCs/T-Cell Response toward Th2 Polarization.

Micro- and Nanoplastics Exposure and Effects on Embryonic Development and Larval Behavior of Zebrafish.

Polypropylene Nanoplastic Exposure to Respiratory Epithelial Barrier-On-Chip and Interfacial Interactions With Human Serum Albumin.

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

Endocrine and Metabolism Modulating Effects of Paracetamol: From In Vitro Signaling to In Vivo Metabolic Reprogramming in Male Mice.

Exposure/Environment Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Chemical exposome patterns in mothers and children across urbanisation levels in five European birth cohorts.

Synthetic Fiber Sanitary Napkins: Nonnegligible Exposure Source of Organophosphate Esters in Women.

Can exposure to chemical products be reduced during pregnancy?

Evidence for recent declines in PFASs and PBDEs in subsistence-harvested ice seals from Alaska.

PFAS

Presence of Legacy and Emerging PFAS in Human Liver Specimens Banked in the United States from 2000 to 2024.

A two-step Bayesian clustering approach to relate PFAS mixture profiles and dietary patterns in early pregnancy.

Global Inventory of Fluoropolymer Production Plants and Their Associated PFAS Environmental Contamination.

Short-chain PFASs dominate in crops near a fluorochemical industrial park: Stratified exposure and Monte Carlo-based health risk assessment.

Twin Threats in the Deepest Ocean: Novel PFAS Drive Exposure While Legacy PFAS Drive Risk.

Traditional Fermentation Amplifies PFAS Bioaccessibility: Defining Fermented Fish Products as an Unrecognized Source of Dietary Exposure.

Flame Retardants

“If They Are Not Labeled, How Do We Know What’s Risky and What’s Not?”: Assessing Information on Brominated Flame Retardants in Children’s Plastic Products in South Africa.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

When Absence of Evidence Is Not Evidence of Absence: What an Advanced Case Reveals about Plastic Impacts on Seabirds.

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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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