EDC Science Weekly, July 11-17, 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:

Are the growing levels of neurotoxic and neuro-disruptive chemicals in our food and drink contributing to the youth mental health crisis? A narrative review.
Phthalates, bisphenols and per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances migration from food packaging into food: a systematic review.

Science summaries and highlights

Note: American Scientist magazine has put out a call for brief letters from scientists about their work to help explain to the public why their work is important.

Events

July 26 panel discussion: Plastics, Pollution, and the Cost to Our Health [EcoMadres]

July 28-30: DOHaD summer course [Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) Society]

July 30 – Aug. 1 conference: U.S. DOHaD Society Annual Meeting

July 30 webinar: How waterless products make plastic-free packaging possible [Plastic Pollution Coalition]

July 31 webinar: Excellent Alternatives to Plastic Packaging [Beyond Plastics]

Aug. 17 in-person workshop: How to conduct gold-star systematic reviews [PRHE, at the ISEE-ISES conference]

Sept. 15: ECHO symposium: translating science to action [hybrid] [NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)]

Sept. 22: Plastics, Human Health, and Solutions Symposium [NYU Langone Health Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards (CIEH)]

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

More events

Regulations/Policy

Tiny molecules, big concerns: ultrashort-chain PFAS on the regulatory radar.

Analyses of Food-Consumption Data and Migration for the Safety Evaluation of Recycled Polystyrene Intended for Food-Packaging Applications.

PFAS regulations and the potential impacts on patient care re The role of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in medical devices and delivery systems: Why the electrophysiologist should care

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

Mixture risk assessment approaches to evaluate oral exposure to PFAS: Outputs and recommendations of an expert workshop.

Models of Endocrine-Disrupting Effects: Human Placental Steroidogenesis.

Addressing Immune Response Dysfunction in an Integrated Approach for Testing and Assessment for Non-Genotoxic Carcinogens in Humans: A Targeted Analysis.

Screening Industrial Chemicals for Human Developmental Toxicity in the DevTox Germ Layer Reporter Platform.

AI-based Toxicity Prediction Models using ToxCast Data: Current Status and Future Directions for Explainable Models.

ZFinfer: A novel chemical-phenotype inference system for zebrafish for filling data gaps in environmental pollutant research.

How can Machine Learning inform about chemical risks in circular textiles?

A Common Adverse Outcome Pathway for Metal(loid)s Inducing Nephrotoxicity to Advance Next-Generation Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures.

Commentaries

Environmental Exposures Increase Health Risks in Childhood Cancer Survivors.

Low-quality papers based on public health data are flooding the scientific literature [News item in Nature re articles using data from NHANES, UK Biobank, etc.]

Connecting planetary boundaries and planetary health: a resilient and stable Earth system is crucial for human health

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Global research on endocrine disruptors as emerging hazards for human health and the environment.

Are the growing levels of neurotoxic and neuro-disruptive chemicals in our food and drink contributing to the youth mental health crisis? A narrative review.

Phthalates, bisphenols and per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances migration from food packaging into food: a systematic review.

Impact of endocrine disrupting chemicals on macrophages at the maternal-fetal interface.

Human biomonitoring and environmental health: a critical review of global exposure patterns, methodological challenges and research gaps.

Ultra-Processed Diets and Endocrine Disruption, Explanation of Missing Link in Rising Cancer Incidence Among Young Adults.

Environmental contaminants and the HPA axis: Advances in adrenocortical hormone research in cetaceans.

Phthalates

Maternal Phthalate Exposure and Allergic Diseases in Children: A Meta-Analysis and Network Toxicology.

Flame Retardants

Breathing hazards: Perspective on the adverse health effects of organophosphate flame retardants.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Micro- and Nanoplastics as Disruptors of the Endocrine System-A Review of the Threats and Consequences Associated with Plastic Exposure.

Micro(nano)plastics in the brain: Epigenetic perturbations in progression to neurodegenerative diseases.

Evidence, Mechanisms, and Clinical Implications of Microplastics and Nanoplastics As Emerging Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Narrative Review.

Microscopic menace: exploring the link between microplastics and cancer pathogenesis.

A global meta-analysis reveals the toxicity of plastics on insect health.

Mechanistic insights into microplastic-induced reproductive toxicity in aquatic organisms: A comprehensive review.

Human Health Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Association between endocrine disrupting chemicals and female infertility: a study based on NHANES database.

Association of multiple environmental toxicants with markers of early kidney injury in pregnant women: an exposome approach.

Urinary metals and phenols mixtures, oxidative stress, and heart rate variability: Association and mediation analyses.

BPA/Phenols

Associations between coexposure to bisphenols mixture and metabolic diseases: based on three statistical models.

Effect of maternal bisphenol exposure on adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: The Japan Environment and Children’s study.

An Analysis of the Role of Bisphenol A in Breast and Reproductive-System Cancers.

Phthalates

Unraveling the relationships of phthalate exposure, long-term trajectories for novel insulin resistance biomarkers and accelerated pubertal onset in children.

Combining epidemiology, network toxicology and in vivo experimental validation to uncover takeout-mediated DEHP/MEHP toxicity in inflammatory bowel disease.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Association of Organochlorine Pesticide Exposure as Endocrine Disruptors with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in North India.

PFAS

Paternal and maternal exposures to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and birth outcomes: a multi-country cohort study.

Maternal serum and placental metabolomes in association with prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and their relevance to child neurodevelopment in an ASD-enriched cohort.

Associations of per- and perfluoroalkyl substances with serum alanine and aspartate aminotransferase levels and the potential mediating role of cytokines in Children.

Association of Serum Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Exposure with Leukocyte Telomere Length in Chinese Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Role of Genetic Susceptibility and Healthy Diet.

Flame Retardants

Tributyl phosphate as a type of environmental endocrine disruptor associated with liver fibrosis: insights from NHANES and in vitro validation.

Pesticides

Agricultural copper pesticide exposure and DNA methylation in Central Valley of California residents with and without Parkinson’s disease.

Metals/Metalloids

Lifetime water arsenic, genetic susceptibility, and bladder cancer in the New England Bladder Cancer Study.

Essential and Non-Essential Metals in Children’s Intellectual Functioning: A Multi-Media Biomarker Approach from A Mexico City Birth Cohort.

Exposure to hair metals and metal-mixtures associated with blood lipids and dyslipidemia in Chinese adults: Evidence from a national cross-sectional study.

Association between size-resolved PM₁₀-bound heavy metal and metalloid exposure and oxidative stress among waste recycling workers.

Metabolic Signature of Arsenic Exposure and Metabolism: The Folic Acid and Creatine Trial.

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Integrative causal inference illuminates gene-environment interactions linking endocrine disruptors to female infertility.

BPA/Phenols

Prophylactic role of omega 3 fatty acids in bisphenol F-induced sexual and erectile dysfunction is associated with penile redox homeostasis.

Bisphenol A in utero induced glutamate and D-serine metabolic dysregulation in the hippocampus of rats and primary cultured astrocytes.

Bisphenol-A disrupts mitochondrial functionality leading to senescence and apoptosis in human amniotic mesenchymal stromal cells.

Effects of bisphenol A alternatives (BPS and BPAF) on zebrafish (Danio rerio) spermatogenesis ex vivo: meiosis damage and transcriptional deregulation of genes related to spermatogenic processes and epigenetic regulation.

Exploring the inhibitory effects of Brassica juncea extract and sinigrin on lipid accumulation in BPA-Induced 3T3-L1 cells via the glucocorticoid receptor and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ pathways.

Bisphenol S Exacerbates CRC Progression Through Dual Mechanisms of Immune Microenvironment Reprogramming and SLC4A2-Mediated EMT Activation.

Phthalates

Bis(2-Ethylhexyl)-2,3,4,5-Tetrabromophthalate Promotes NASH Progression through Disrupting Endoplasmic Reticulum-Mitochondria Contacts.

Integrative network toxicology, molecular dynamics and transcriptional analysis elucidate DEHP-induced cardiovascular dysfunction.

Impact of Di-(2-Ethylhexyl)-Phthalate on Metabolic Syndrome: Insights from Network Toxicology and Molecular Docking and Dynamics.

Lycopene ameliorates Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate-induced neurotoxicity in mice via the gut-brain axis.

Molecular Mechanisms of Premature Hippocampal and Hypothalamic Senescence Induced by Maternal Exposure to DBP in Male Offspring Mice.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Probiotic secretomes attenuate inflammation and disrupted antioxidant status induced by polychlorinated biphenyls in human intestinal T84 epithelial cells.

PFAS

6:2 Chlorinated Polyfluoroalkyl Ether Sulfonate (F-53B) Induces Aging and Parkinson’s Disease-like Disorders in C. elegans at Low Concentrations.

The effects of multi-generational exposure to Fluorine-Free Foam (F3) alternatives on Daphnia magna tolerance.

Flame Retardants

Effects of tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate on hyperuricemia revealed by network toxicology and in vitro experimental validation.

Pesticides

Chlorpyrifos induces spermatogenic dysfunction via ferroptosis in Sertoli cells.

Impact of a high-fat diet on spatial learning and memory: the role of sex, APOE genotype, and postnatal chlorpyrifos exposure.

Effect of paternal exposure to glyphosate and microcystin-LR on zebrafish (Danio rerio) fathers and progeny: An integrated investigation based on behavioral, histopathological, biochemical, and transcriptomic analysis.

Toxicity of glyphosate accelerates neurodegeneration in Caenorhabditis elegans model of Alzheimer’s disease.

Metals/Metalloids

Folic acid alleviates gestational arsenic exposure-induced spatial learning and memory impairment in mice offspring via consuming SAM-mediated DNA hypomethylation in the developing brain.

Manganese mitigates atrazine-induced oxidative stress and hepatorenal toxicity: insights from network pharmacology and in vivo experimentation.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Microplastic pollution and amphibian health: Complex physiological effects of different microplastic types on juvenile Glandirana rugosa.

Unveiling the gut’s plastic predicament: How micro- and nano-plastics drive distinct toxicological pathways in Enchytraeus crypticus.

Therapeutic Benefits of Nano-Echinacea Extract on Reproductive Injury Induced by Polystyrene Plastic Materials in Rat Model via Regulating Gut-Brain Axis.

Polystyrene microplastics enhance environmentally relevant prometryn-induced developmental toxicity, tissue damage, and gut microbiota dysbiosis in marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma).

Maternal exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics leads to ovotoxicity in female mouse offspring.

Disrupted senses and social cues: Impacts of nanoplastics and methylmercury on zebrafish neurodevelopment.

Polystyrene microplastics induce potential toxicity through the gut-mammary axis.

Chronic Nanoplastic Exposure Promotes the Development and Progression of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease.

Exposure/Environment Studies

PFAS

PFAS in first-time mothers from Sweden: temporal trends and the impact from fish/seafood consumption and drinking water exposure.

What We Know About per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Contamination Levels in Milk. A Review from the Last Decade.

Identifying Populations with Elevated PFAS Exposure by Targeted Serum Sample Pooling.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Assessing microplastic contamination in milk and dairy products.

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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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