EDC Science Weekly, Aug. 7-13, 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:

Science summaries and highlights

Events

Sept. 15 webinar: The Social Cost of Plastic [Beyond Plastics, Duke, NRDC]

Sept. 22-23: 2026 Plastics and Human Health Symposium (in NYC with streaming) [NYU Langone Health’s Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards (CIEH) and the Food Packaging Forum]

Sept. 30: Application due date for the HEEDS Lou Guillette Jr. Outstanding Young Investigator Award.

Oct. 1: Application due date for the Seeding Change/Agents of Change cohort.

Oct. 6 webinar: Glyphosate Science: Cancer, neurotoxicity & endocrine disruption [CHE]

Regulations/Policy

Overcoming Difficult, Impossible, and Meaningless Animal Testing under REACH: Opportunities for Robust Chemical Risk Assessment with Non-Animal Approaches.

New Approach Methodologies in Food Safety: A Survey and Commentary on Industry Adoption, Barriers, and the Path to Regulatory Adoption.

It’s time to put plastics on the health security agenda: a call to action for Indonesia and Australia.

In Vitro New Approach Methodologies for Toxicity Assessment of Emerging Food Contaminants in Indonesia: A Proposed Strategy for BPOM Regulatory Integration.

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

Methods/Tools/Screening

Preparing for CHANGE: How systems thinking supports an effective transition from animal studies to NAMs.

Modelling the regulatory toxicology system to promote the effective use of new approach methodologies: a system thinking approach.

Multibehavioral Phenotyping in Early-Life-Stage Zebrafish for Identifying Disruptors of Nonassociative Learning.

The rise of new approach methodologies (NAMs) for environmental safety assessment of chemicals: A systematic review of the current status, challenges and strategies for broader adoption of NAMs.

Linking “Big” Geospatial and Health Data: Implications for Research in Environmental Epidemiology.

Updates to the RIFM Criteria Document for fragrance ingredient evaluation.

Adverse outcome pathway network-based approach for the evaluation of thyroid hormone system disruption for human health and environmental regulatory hazard assessment.

Understanding Interindividual Variability in Biotransformation and Renal Clearance to Improve Personalized Toxicokinetic Modeling in Chemical Assessments

Commentaries

From environmental toxicology to integrated environmental health: understanding environmental change, chemical complexity and health in a changing world.

Potential Dangers of Adult Cosmetics to Preteen and Teenage Girls.

Microplastics at the Intersection of Toxicology, Child Health, and Human Rights.

Editorial: New methods and approaches in toxicology of emerging environmental contaminants [intro to a research topic in Frontiers in Toxicology]

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Environmental pollutants and testicular toxicity in male reproductive health: Basic evidence and translational prospects – A narrative review.

The Exposome-Autoimmunity Axis: Environmental Xenobiotics, Gut Dysbiosis, and Potential Pathways to Immunosenescence.

Biomarkers of Chemical- and Drug-Induced Neurotoxicity: A Review of Mechanistic Insights and Neuroprotective Strategies.

Melatonin as a protector against endocrine disruption across tissues: A systematic review.

Bisphenols

The Possible Association Between Bisphenol A (BPA) and the Neuropathological Processes Characteristic of Alzheimer’s Disease-A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Phthalates

Phthalate exposure and human reproductive health: an epidemiological review.

PFAS

Associations between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and semen parameters: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Flame Retardants

Impact of Flame Retardants on the Reproductive System.

Pesticides

Toxic Crossroads: Environmental Pesticides and their Endocrine Footprints in Global Metabolic Health.

The thyroid toxicity of atrazine and its potential mechanisms: a review.

Endocrine-Disrupting Pesticides as Drivers of Human Disease: Mechanistic Toxicology and Life-Course Health Effects.

Research progress, challenges, strategies, and perspectives on pesticides and amphibians: From toxic effects to risk assessment.

Metals/Metalloids

Exploring cadmium exposure as a contributor to male infertility: insights from the relationship between environmental pollutants and the male reproductive system.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

The Gut Microbiome in Foodborne Microplastic Toxicity: Mechanistic Insights and Human Health Risk Assessment.

Intracellular Fate of Micro- and Nanoplastics in Human Placenta: Organelle-Specific Toxicity and Mechanistic Convergence.

Reproductive risks of microplastics in assisted reproduction.

Microplastics and nanoplastics in human toxicity: ROS-mediated mechanisms, cellular damage and systemic effects.

Miscellaneous

Exposure, fate and impact of food preservatives in the environment.

The emergence of rubber-derived quinones in environment: From Evidence-based toxicological views to policy interventions.

Human Health Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Sex- and Trimester-Specific Associations of Prenatal Co-Exposure to Organophosphate Esters and Phthalates with Preschoolers’ Trajectories of Co-Occurring ADHD and ASD Symptoms: Cord Blood Metabolomic Study in the Ma’anshan Birth Cohort.

Associations of prenatal exposure to organophosphate flame retardants and organophosphorus pesticides with cardiac structure in 4-year-old children: Evidence from the Shanghai Birth Cohort.

Combined Effects of PFAS and Metals on Cognitive Function.

Bisphenols

Integrative analysis of NHANES, network toxicology, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, and in vitro experiments to elucidate the molecular mechanisms linking BPA to NAFLD.

Phthalates

Early-life phthalate mixture exposure and reproductive hormone levels during minipuberty.

Associations of urinary phthalate metabolite and replacement chemical concentrations with gestational blood pressure.

Evaluating the mediating role of gestational phthalate and replacement biomarkers in the associations between race/ethnicity and birthweight.

PFAS

In Utero Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Exposure and Changes in Infant T Helper Cell Development among UPSIDE-ECHO Cohort Participants.

Differential correlations of serum PFASs with thyroid hormones in girls with central and incomplete precocious puberty: a machine learning analysis.

Associations of cognitive function with recent and cumulative per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure in firefighters.

Flame Retardants

Small vulnerable newborns and prenatal exposure to organophosphate esters: Insights from the Ma’anshan Birth Cohort.

2-Ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate exposure is associated with poorer overall survival in advanced high-grade serous ovarian cancer: Integrated epidemiological and experimental evidence implicating the ITGB1-FAK-AKT axis.

Pesticides

Environmental neonicotinoid exposure and early gonadal development in girls with central precocious puberty.

Metabolomics insights into the association between organochlorine pesticides, synthetic pyrethroids exposure and thyroid cancer risk.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Association between placental microplastic burden and intrapartum fetal heart rate abnormalities.

Association between urinary microplastic load and systemic inflammation and oxidative stress markers in adults.

Air Pollution

Household Fuel Use and Kidney Disease-Related Mortality: The Golestan Cohort Study.

Miscellaneous

Associations between aromatic amines and oxidative stress biomarkers among pregnant women in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

Serum synthetic phenolic antioxidants, transformation products, and thyroid homeostasis in adults from eastern China: Association and benchmark dose assessment.

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Endocrine-disrupting chemical-induced gene networks confer coronary heart disease risk revealed by causal inference and single-cell analyses.

Integrative Bioinformatics and Docking-Based In Silico Toxicity Assessment of Plastic Additives: Insights into Neurotoxic, Reproductive, and Carcinogenic Risks and Associated Molecular Pathways.

Exploring Chemically-Induced Oxidative Stress: A Comparative Study of Zebrafish Embryos and Maturated HepG2 Cells.

Bisphenols

Research on the influence of bisphenol A on precocious puberty based on network toxicology and molecular dynamics simulation.

Abnormal glucose metabolism and muscle mass decline by bisphenol A or bisphenol S in skeletal muscle of male mice:inhibition of mitophagy by downregulation of the ERα/AMPK/ULK1 pathway.

Bisphenol S causes deficits in social behaviour by disrupting serotonergic and BDNF-CREB1 signaling pathways.

Halogenated bisphenol A alternatives inhibit aldo-keto reductase 1C1 and induce metabolic alterations in human adipocytes.

Bisphenol A induces ototoxic injury by ferroptosis pathway: integrated analysis of network toxicology, RNA-sequencing and experimental validation.

Sublethal bisphenol A compromises BV-2 microglial immunity by disrupting TLR4 signaling through the ROS/Nrf2-Keap1/HO-1 axis.

Phthalates

Integrated network toxicology and experimental validation identify candidate targets in phthalate-related metabolic-associated fatty liver disease.

Ovarian Antral Follicle Toxicity Induced by Phthalate Exposures.

Dicyclohexyl phthalate exposure impairs early embryonic development and disrupts offspring reproductive function via oxidative stress-mediated mitophagy.

Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate exposure under high-fat diet conditions alters oxidative stress, lipogenesis, and adipogenesis in rat liver and adipose tissues.

Parabens/Triclosan/Antimicrobials

Temporal and sexual heterogeneity in single paraben-induced interference of hypothalamic-pituitary axes in juvenile zebrafish.

Short-term propylparaben exposure alters the expression of key factors in the ovary and oviduct of adult mice.

Alkyl-chain-length-associated responses of K562 leukemia cells to methyl-, ethyl-, and butylparaben with a focus on PPARγ and WNT/β-catenin signaling.

Triclosan induces cardiac malformations via an estrogen receptor-ERK-mitochondrial apoptotic signaling axis in zebrafish embryos.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Gestational exposure to short-chain chlorinated paraffins induces sex-specific hepatic steatosis in adult mouse offspring.

Transmission and Prevention of Uterine Dysfunction in Daughters of Dioxin Exposed Male Mice.

PFAS

Effects of PFOS and its substitute PFHxS on steroid hormone secretion, uptake, and transport in BeWo cells.

Oral exposure to Perfluorooctanoic acid disrupts the microbiota-gut-liver axis and enhances the severity of chemically induced colitis in mice.

Early-life 6:2 diPAP exposure induces SQSTM1/p62-associated NAFLD-like liver injury in juvenile zebrafish.

Perfluorononanoic acid enhances non-small cell lung cancer progression through CD36-driven fatty acid metabolic reprogramming.

Developmental perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS) exposure alters exocrine pancreas function in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Novel Perfluoroalkyl Substance GenX exposure promotes non-small cell lung cancer progression by regulating the OTUB1/STAT3/VEGF axis.

Behavioral effects of chronic PFHxA exposure on spatial memory function.

Unveiling the Structural Determinants of PFAS Toxicity: A Graph Neural Network and Interpretability Analysis.

AOP-Based Analysis of Curated Transcriptomic Data Reveals a Context-Dependent Core Mechanism of PFAS-Induced Liver Steatosis.

Protective effect of alpha-lipoic acid against perfluorooctanoic acid-induced toxicity on the fertility of adult male mice.

Flame Retardants

Endocrine disruption by emergent brominated flame retardant Decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) promotes cancer-associated characteristics in human breast cells and zebrafish xenografts.

Insights into the inhibitory mechanisms of alkyl phosphate esters on 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases: Implications for placental reproductive toxicity.

Exposure to Structurally Related Organophosphate Esters Elicits Distinct Metabolomic Perturbations in Daphnia magna.

Triphenyl phosphate inhibit migration and invasion of EVT cells through PPARγ-mediated autophagy.

EHDPP has the potential to impair mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation through inhibition of Cpt1A expression in mice.

Pesticides

Impact of pesticides lambda-cyhalothrin, emamectin benzoate, and thiophanate-methyl used alone and in mixtures on reproduction and oxidative stress markers in male Wistar rats.

Environmentally relevant imidacloprid exposure elicits hippocampal microglial apoptosis via JNK-FOXO3 pathway: Implication for latent central neurotoxicity.

Metals/Metalloids

Cadmium Toxicity in Testis Organoids: Validation of an In Vitro Model for Testicular Toxicology.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Microplastics as an environmental driver of impaired nutrition.

Toxic effects of polyethylene microplastic exposure: Stress and immune responses, and acetylcholinesterase levels in Far Eastern catfish, Silurus asotus, according to different particle sizes.

Polystyrene microplastics impair skeletal development in zebrafish: Biphasic toxicity and comparison with marine medaka.

Polystyrene microplastics induce liver toxicity and cytoskeleton alterations in female rats.

Polystyrene microplastics impair trophoblast invasion in vitro and alter microRNA expression targeting the angiogenesis pathway.

Nanoplastics Impair Neuroimmune Integrity Via Cellular Retention and Multiple Organelle Stress.

Integrating structure and experimental data annotations with computational modeling framework for predicting micro-nanoplastics toxicities.

Long-term exposure to food-contact microplastics disrupts gut microbiota and alters colon metabolites.

Polystyrene nanoplastics induce fetal growth restriction via a novel NMNAT3 depletion cascade disrupting placental mitochondrial energetics and activating ferritinophagic ferroptosis.

Polystyrene Microplastics Trigger Liver Damage Through Impaired Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Mitochondrial Dynamics.

Infiltrating Biodegradable Microplastics in Zebrafish Blood: From Size Barrier Penetration to Risk.

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

PCOS-like phenotype in rats after intrauterine EV exposure: puberty and adulthood.

Ecotoxicological Effects of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products on the Microbiome and Oxidative Stress of Freshwater Crayfish Faxonius obscurus.

Miscellaneous

In Vitro Toxicity Assessment of Tire-related Chemicals in Cells from Diverse Fish Species.

Unveiling the Molecular Mechanism of 6PPD and 6PPD-Q in Lipid-Metabolism-Related Diseases Through Network Toxicology and Experimental Validation.

Exposure/Environment Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Unsupervised dietary-behavioral profiling identifies PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and metal exposure patterns in Korean adults.

Multi-class UHPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of 32 endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the urine of pregnant women.

US schools’ proximity to environmental hazard sites: A national analysis.

Phthalates

Occurrence of Phthalate acid esters in new and used household curtains and their distribution patterns.

Legacy and alternative plasticizers in sediments from a highly industrialized lake in Korea: Spatial distribution, source identification, and long-term trends (2008-2024).

PFAS

Trifluoroacetic Acid (TFA) Exceeds All Other Extractable Organofluorine in Drinking Water from Eastern Massachusetts, United States.

Contribution of Indoor Air and Dust to Children’s Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Exposure in the Faroe Islands.

A simple and sensitive QuEChERS-based LC-MS/MS method for quantifying 30 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in human serum: application to firefighter biomonitoring.

Impact of a fluorinated ski wax ban on PFAS contamination in winter sports environments.

The Occurrence of Emerging Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Indoor Dust from Different Microenvironments in South China.

PFAS release from historically polluted soils: a focus on fluorotelomer sulfonates and long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids.

Mobile Short- and Ultrashort-chain PFAS in Korean Aquatic Systems: Matrix-specific Profiles, Industrial Signatures, and Sum-based Monitoring Implications.

Long-term trends of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in European lobster (Homarus gammarus) from western Norway (2009-2025).

How clean is clean enough? Short-chain PFAS remain dominant in treated landfill leachate.

Landfill leachate as a global PFAS source reservoir: source-strength heterogeneity, compositional transition, and screening-level risk.

Flame Retardants

Probabilistic and sensitive dietary risk assessment of sixteen legacy and emerging organophosphorus flame retardants in the Taiwanese populations: A food market basket study.

Is urban micro-watershed driven organophosphate flame retardants threatening major tropical river basin? First sediment-water exchange evidence from India.

Pesticides

Problem formulation and conceptual framework for landscape-based environmental risk assessment of pesticides.

Metals/Metalloids

Environmental burden of lead (Pb) and methylmercury (MeHg) exposure on IQ loss in children in Europe – single substance and mixture approach.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

The microplastic footprint of orthodontics.

Early-life exposure to plastics is associated with health parameters and biomarkers in southern giant petrels.

Microplastics threaten agroecosystem multifunctionality: A global systematic review with national-scale evidence from China.

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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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