EDC Science Weekly, July 9-16, 2026

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

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

Highlights:

Mapping industrial lobbying strategies in the EU PFAS restriction
Micro- and nano-plastics in the coronary circulation and air pollution exposure in ischaemic heart disease presentation [see article in Medpage Today: Blood Samples Mid-Heart Attack Found With Disproportionately More Microplastics]
Plasticizing Diabetes Care: The Metabolic Threat of Plastic-Associated Endocrine Disruptors and MNPs in Clinical Medicine
Dietary guidelines adherence and pregnancy exposure to 10 classes of priority chemicals
PFAS remediation across Europe: costs and limited impacts

Science summaries and highlights

Events

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]

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

Regulations/Policy

Mapping industrial lobbying strategies in the EU PFAS restriction using AI-assisted text analysis.

Bridging data gaps to support the Global Plastics Treaty.

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

Methods/Tools/Screening

A new chronic larval bioassay using the wild marine shrimp Palaemon serratus, integrating inter-female variability and non-monotonic dose-responses.

Screening the Tox21 Compound Library for Chemicals That Stimulate the Adrenergic β1 Receptor.

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activity in water: Looking beyond dioxin-like toxicity.

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Endocrine Disruptors and Gynecological Malignancies.

Environmental Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease.

Prenatal exposure to environmental toxicants and their association with alterations in kidney development.

Environmental Toxicants and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Implications for a Metabolic-Ovarian Framework (PMOS) – A Systematic Review.

Epigenetic Signatures of Frailty: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Network Analysis of the Chemical Exposome.

Bisphenols

Bisphenol exposure and gynecological health: A narrative review of current evidence and knowledge gaps.

PFAS

Restriction of PFAS use in medical devices – what next for medical device manufacturers?

Organ-specific carcinogenic risk heterogeneity of perfluorooctanoic acid exposure: Global evidence from bibliometric mapping, meta-analysis, and nonlinear dose-response modeling.

Imaging and Molecular Biomarkers of PFAS-Related Vascular Aging: A Narrative Review.

Pesticides

Effects of Pesticide Exposure on Cognitive Functions in Agricultural Workers: A Systematic Review.

Metals/Metalloids

Mercury exposure, but not lead, increases risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Plasticizing Diabetes Care: The Metabolic Threat of Plastic-Associated Endocrine Disruptors and Micro-/Nanoplastics in Clinical Medicine.

A Comprehensive Review on Microplastic Contamination in Food Packaging and Processing: Pathways, Exposure, and Implications.

The Plastic Within: Micro- and Nanoplastics in Human Tissues and the Nutritional Context for Exposure Mitigation.

Micro- and nanoplastic exposure and cancer: current evidence, mechanistic pathways, and translational challenges.

Microplastics-PFAS interactions in environmental matrices: quantitative evidence for antagonistic and synergistic toxicity.

Ovarian toxic effects of micro- and nanoplastics.

Plastics as disruptors of feeding, digestive physiology, metabolism, and growth in fish and other aquatic ectothermic vertebrates.

Microplastic-induced neurotoxicity in Zebrafish: Current evidence and underlying mechanisms.

Effects of microplastics and nanoplastics on rodent gut microbiota diversity: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Air Pollution

Association of long-term outdoor air pollution exposure with incidence of Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and motor neuron diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Miscellaneous

Environmental Behavior, Toxicological Pathways, and Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): From Molecular Structure to Human Health.

Human Health Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Exposure to Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals, Iron Metabolism, and Risk of Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease: A Nationwide Cross-sectional Study in China.

Integrated metabolomics reveals lipid mediators and food-associated chemicals associated with metabolic syndrome.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Long-Term Effects of Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Neuropsychological Outcomes of a Longitudinal Cohort Study.

PFAS

Associations of prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and childhood vaccine-induced immunity.

Effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on maternal thyroid function: a stratified analysis by maternal iodine status and thyroid autoantibody status.

In Utero PFAS Exposure, Inflammation, and Behavioral Problems in Childhood.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in early life is associated with childhood intestinal inflammation: analyses of three birth cohorts.

Congener-Specific Associations of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances With Obesity-Metabolic Phenotypes: A Multimodel Analysis.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in breast milk and child growth trajectories during the first two years: A prospective birth cohort study in Nanjing, China.

Longitudinal Associations of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances with Metabolic Syndrome from Adolescence to Early Adulthood: A 10-Year Prospective Cohort Study.

Perfluorooctanoic acid and cancer incidence: an updated investigation of a cohort in the mid-Ohio Valley.

Association between serum perfluoroalkyl substances and COPD risk: population evidence and in vitro validation.

Distribution of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Renal Vascular Tissues from Donors after Brain Death and Association with Post-Transplant Delayed Graft Function Risk.

Flame Retardants

Pregnancy exposure to organophosphate flame retardants and alterations in maternal and newborn thyroid hormone levels.

Epigenome-wide association analysis of prenatal organophosphate ester flame retardant exposure in maternal blood implicates maternal immune and neuronal epigenetic alterations.

Pesticides

Associations of Glyphosate Exposure in Pregnancy with Preterm Birth: a Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study.

Metals/Metalloids

Hair Metals and Essential Trace Element Profiles in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (F84.0): an Exploratory Case-Control Study With Sex Stratified Descriptive Analyses.

Semen Quality in a Large Cohort of Males Living in Highly Polluted Areas of Campania Region in Southern Italy with a Focus on the Role of Cadmium Exposure.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Micro- and nano-plastics in the coronary circulation and air pollution exposure in ischaemic heart disease presentation [and related commentary, Nano- and microplastics in the cardiovascular exposome: a new frontier in environmental risk.]

Air Pollution

Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and the risk of type 1 diabetes in the offspring: a nationwide Danish study.

Association between long-term exposure to environmental coarse particulate matter and the prevalence of thyroid disorders: a cross-sectional study in China.

Prenatal environmental exposures associated with ADHD diagnosis in children: a multicentre exposome analysis.

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Predicting the immunotoxic potential of chemical mixtures based on their endocrine activity profiles via computational modeling and in vitro bioassays.

Bisphenols

Bisphenol A alternatives (BPS and BPAF) disrupt anti-predatory behavior and intergenerational behavioral responses in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Bisphenol S-Induced Neurobehavioral Impairment Is Characterized by c-Jun Activation and Distinct Dysregulation of Nrf2 and BDNF in the Zebrafish Brain.

Network toxicology and molecular docking reveal the mechanistic basis of bisphenol A-mediated cholestatic liver injury.

Integrated Proteomic and Phosphoproteomic Profiling Reveals Mechanisms of Bisphenol A Induced Placental Toxicity.

Phthalates

Hepatic lipid accumulation induced by mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and potential ERBB2-associated inflammatory signaling in NAFLD.

Monomethyl phthalate promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression through MMP9 upregulation.

Maternal di-n-butyl phthalate exposure promotes renal fibrosis in IUGR offspring rats via HBB downregulation and Nrf2 pathway activation.

Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate exposure aggravates amyloid-beta-induced toxicity in transgenic AD Caenorhabditis elegans via lysosomal dysfunction and oxidative stress.

Developmental Neurotoxicity of Short-Chain Phthalates in Human Neurospheres.

Quercetin Restores Oocyte Maturation and Embryo Development in DEHP-Exposed Mice via Mitochondrial Protection and Apoptosis Inhibition.

Parabens/Triclosan/Antimicrobials

Advancing next-generation risk assessment for cosmetic ingredients: transferring the 10-step read-across framework from human to environmental safety using triclosan as a case study.

Impact of parabens, individually and in mixture, on human neutrophil oxidative burst under physiological and hyperglycemic conditions.

PFAS

PFAS mixtures impair key T-cell-B-cell interactions essential for COVID-19 vaccine responses.

Investigation of the Effects of Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) Exposure on Interleukin-17 Signalling and Poly(I:C)-Induced Lung Inflammation in BALB/c Mice.

Structure-activity relationship of per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances as inhibitors of human and rat 17β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 3.

Decoding the Partitioning Behavior of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances: Insights from Human Liver and Blood Biomonitoring with Machine Learning.

Comparative in vitro study of structure related uptake of ten perfluoroalkyl substances by human and rat renal transporters.

HFPO-DA exacerbates acute ischemic stroke outcomes in rats via the CSNK2A1/GSK3B/NF-κB signaling pathway.

PFDA exposure promotes myocardial aging and fibrosis via hyperactivation of the MTORC1 signaling axis.

Hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid exposure disrupts hepatic lipid metabolism by modulating the RBP4-STRA6 axis.

Flame Retardants

Synergistic in silico models uncover endocrine and reproductive toxicity of organophosphates.

From Screening-Level Profiling of Novel Brominated Flame Retardants to a Putative AOP-Informed Framework for DBDPE-Induced Cognitive Impairment in Zebrafish.

Developmental neurotoxic effects of organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) across different life stages and the central role of pioneer transcription factors Neurog2/Ascl1 during the embryonic period.

Potential Molecular Associations Between Triphenyl Phosphate Exposure and Thyroid Cancer: Integration of Network Toxicology and Machine Learning for Core Target Identification with Molecular Docking.

Organotins

Triphenyltin exposure impairs vascular development in zebrafish larvae: An integrated study of systemic toxicity, cell death and dysregulated VEGF/notch signaling.

Pesticides

Neonicotinoid insecticides induced neurotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells via oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Developmental neurotoxicity of atrazine: decreased synaptic spine density and miRNA-driven GluN2A downregulation in primary hippocampal neurons.

Early neurotoxic effects of commercial 2,4-D formulation in zebrafish: a multibiomarker approach.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Polystyrene nanoplastics exacerbated the toxicity of cadmium: from the perspective of the placenta-uterus micro-environment.

Polystyrene NPs reshape PFOA-driven mitochondrial redox balance, pentose phosphate-nucleotide metabolism, and membrane lipid remodeling in Cipangopaludina cathayensis.

Gestational exposure to PP-NPs promotes premature placental ageing through global reprogramming of the trophoblast phosphoproteome.

Taurine attenuates polystyrene microplastic-associated oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptotic changes in the spleen of mice.

Tire Wear Particles

New insights into 6PPD-quinone-induced neurotoxicity in zebrafish: the role of the MAPK/oxidative stress axis in neurodevelopmental disruption.

YKT6 suppression contributes to 6PPD-induced cardiotoxicity by impairing autophagosome-lysosome fusion in zebrafish.

Exposure/Environment Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Dietary guidelines adherence and pregnancy exposure to 10 classes of priority chemicals: an observational study in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort.

Contribution of Consumer Products to Emerging Chemical Exposures in a Preconception Cohort Study.

Plasticiser exposure assessment in E-waste recycling workers linking passive samplers and urinary biomonitoring.

Bisphenols/Phthalates

Predictors of bisphenol A exposure in pregnant women of the Barwon Infant Study.

Exposure, risk, and potential sources of phthalates, alternative plasticizers, and phenolic compounds in Thai children: A two-region comparison study.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Accumulation and temporal trends (2002-2023) of legacy and emerging persistent organic pollutants in common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) from Korean coastal waters.

PFAS

PFAS remediation across Europe: costs and limited impacts

Biomonitoring of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in sportfish consumers in the Great Lakes – Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Residential history and drinking water type as predictors of serum PFAS in communities with a history of contaminated drinking water.

PFAS exposure linked to altered innate immune biomarkers in a sentinel apex predatoiir, the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).

Pesticides

Pesticide Residues in Vegetables: The Potential Risk Assessment of Endocrine and Reproductive Disruptors for Children and Adults.

Pesticides override other stressors to drive stream macroinvertebrate diversity loss: unraveling interactive effects and ecological thresholds.

Metals/Metalloids

Seasonal changes in parental hormone levels and their association with mercury contamination in a tropical seabird.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Assessing the release of microplastics from reusable plastic water bottles and their exposure to toddlers.

Distribution, Polymer Composition, and Exposure Risks of Microplastics in Bottled and Tap Water Distribution.

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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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