EDC Science Weekly, Mar. 20-26, 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/News:

Science summaries and highlights

Events

Apr. 2 webinar: Plastics, Chemicals and Infertility: What we know now, with Dr. Shanna Swan re the Plastic Detox film [EDC Strategies Partnership]

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]

Summer 2026: Registration is open for the Skills for Health and Research Professionals (SHARP) Training program [Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health].

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.

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

Regulations/Policy

Corporate Vectors of Chronic Disease — Using Internal Industry Documents to Craft Counterstrategies

Considerations related to dose selection for regulatory animal testing

Climate Action Impacts on Steelmaking Emissions of Persistent Organic Pollutants Highlight a Gap Between the Paris Agreement and the Stockholm Convention.

Why the EPA’s Reversal on Heavy Metal Air Pollution Is Cause for Concern [News item in JAMA. Also see related podcast, The Health Costs of EPA’s Heavy Metal Air Pollution Rollbacks]

Australia’s Blind Eye: Exploring the Nation’s Permissive Stance on Harmful Pesticides.

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

Methods/Tools/Screening

Toward Comprehensive In Vitro Evaluation of Serum Albumin Binding of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances.

Predicting toxicity and bioactivity of the chemical exposome: a case study for the blood exposome database.

A Novel Screening Framework Integrating a Two-Cell Assay System and Computational Toxicology to Identify Disruptors of the GnRH Neuron-Gonadotrope Axis.

Optimization of an ex vivo model to test the ability of chemicals to disrupt thyroid hormone synthesis.

Statistical Causal Discovery in Developing Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP).

Advancing pesticide risk assessment: the role of adverse outcome pathways and new approach methodologies – what’s next?

Machine Learning-Based Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship Modeling of Repeated Dose Toxicity: A Data-Driven Approach Following Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Test Guidelines 407, 408, and 422 Supported by Experimental Validation.

Commentaries

Is Persistence a Hazard?

We See That Plastics Are Persistent. But Should We Treat Them Universally as a POP?

On why environmental justice must continue to guide public health research.

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

PFAS

Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and inflammatory bowel disease: review and meta-analysis.

Fluorinated pesticides are a growing source of PFAS contamination in the environment: An Australian perspective on use, fate and ecotoxicity.

Organotins

Both legacy and emerging: Organotin pollutants in marine environments.

Pesticides

Impact of Pesticide Use on Gut Microbiota and Health: A Systematic Review of Findings in Both Humans and Animal Models.

Metals/Metalloids

Lead and Cadmium Induced Toxicity Under Prolonged Low-Dose Exposure: Food Chain Driven Source, Molecular Mechanisms, Signaling Cascade, and Health Implications.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Micro- and Nanoplastics Exposure Across the Lifespan: One Health Implications for Aging and Longevity.

The effects of microplastics and nanoplastics on cardiovascular disease: mechanisms and perspectives.

Exposure to microplastics and liver oncogenesis: A comprehensive review on molecular mechanisms and pathogenic pathways.

Beyond fossil plastics: next-generation PLA-based bio-packaging for industrial applications – advances, challenges, and data-driven insights.

The plastisphere as a nexus for antimicrobial resistance: micro(nano)plastics in pathogen colonization, gene transfer, and global health risks.

Miscellaneous

Epidemiological relevant effect biomarkers for thyroid hormone system related adverse outcome pathways: a literature review.

Human Health Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Mixture risk assessment of nine reproductive toxic chemicals affecting male sperm quality in a representative sample of children and adolescents living in Germany – results from the German Environmental Survey (GerES V).

Bisphenols/Phthalates

Bisphenol A Decreases Peripheral Insulin Sensitivity in Normal Weight Adults: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.

Fetal Exposure to Bisphenols and Phthalates and Risk of Respiratory Conditions in Infancy. The Generation R Next Study.

Phthalate mixtures and pregnancy loss: Linking MCNP exposure with placental dysfunction via epidemiologic and in vivo evidence.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Long-term effects of lactational dioxin exposure on endocrine disruption and pubertal development at age 14: a Vietnamese cohort study.

Serum polychlorinated biphenyls and risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Cross-sectional and prospective analyses from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort.

Associations between dietary exposure to dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and Longitudinal changes in weight and waist circumference- an EPIC study.

Prenatal Polychlorinated Biphenyl Mixture Exposure and Neural Tube Defects: Integrated Epidemiological and Experimental Evidence Implicating Pyroptosis.

Associations between pre-disease biomarkers of persistent organic pollutants and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis risk in four European cohorts.

Tissue levels of persistent organic pollutants and biotransformation enzyme polymorphisms in human stomach cancer.

Associations between exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and biomarkers of acute kidney injury among Chilean agricultural workers.

PFAS

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and adolescent bone mineral density: assessing periods of susceptibility.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water and cancer prevalence in the United States.

Serum PFAS Concentrations and Neuromorphometry in Adolescents: The HOME Study.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Umbilical Cord Serum and Key Intermediate Metabolites in Relation to Preterm Birth: A Multicenter Case-Control Study.

Exposure to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances and associations with embryo quality and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a prospective cohort study.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances During Pregnancy and Gestational Diabetes: The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort.

Per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in lung tissues and their association with lung cancer.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and knee osteoarthritis: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.

Pesticides

Integration of Epidemiology and Network Toxicology Revealed the Arrhythmogenic Potential of Neonicotinoid Insecticides.

Consumption of organic versus conventional fruits and vegetables in relation to cancer risk: findings from the NutriNet-Santé cohort study.

Dialkylphosphate urinary metabolites and cholinesterase activities in Mexican indigenous farmworkers.

Metals/Metalloids

Associations Between Toxic Metal Exposure and Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome.

Urinary metal mixtures and cardio-kidney-metabolic risk in adults from a legacy-contaminated area: Repeated-measures cohort evidence and computational validation.

Air Pollution

Personal household air pollution exposure and SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses among women and infants: an analysis within the HAPIN trial.

Association between charcoal cooking fuel and cardiovascular disease prevalence in Haiti: a cross-sectional analysis.

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Cytotoxic and Synergistic Effects of Environmentally Relevant Binary Pollutant Mixtures in a Human Lymphoblast Cell Line.

Combined toxicity of triclocarban and bisphenol S in zebrafish: Multi-level synergistic effects and driving mechanisms.

Chronic Co-exposure to Environmentally Relevant Concentrations of Cadmium and Glyphosate Exerts Aggravating Nephrotoxicity in Mice.

Bisphenols

Activation of the MKK4/7-JNK-c-Jun axis mediates Bisphenol F-induced neurodegeneration and behavioural alteration in adult zebrafish.

Network toxicology and bioinformatic investigation of the association between Bisphenol A and endometrial cancer.

Fluorene‑9‑bisphenol‑associated endoplasmic reticulum stress linked to oxidative stress, apoptosis and autophagy in SH‑SY5Y cells.

Phthalates/Parabens

Impaired testicular development in male offspring following gestational DEHP exposure: The role of macrophage-Leydig cell axis.

Investigating changes in serum metabolome and urinary endocrine disrupting chemicals in cats with hyperthyroidism.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Investigating the mechanistic link between pesticide DDT and breast cancer through network toxicology, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulation.

Endocrine Disruptor 2,7-Dibromocarbazole Disrupts Energy Metabolism and Alters Locomotor Behavior in Juvenile Zebrafish.

Beneficial effects of taurine on 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin-induced oxidative and histopathological damage in the heart tissue of rats.

PFAS

Liver steatosis induced by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exerts a limited influence on heterocyclic aromatic amine-mediated DNA damage at population-relevant exposure levels.

Early-life Exposure to F-53B Remodels the Pulmonary Immune Microenvironment and Enhances Susceptibility to Neutrophil-predominant Asthma via Dysregulation of Arachidonic Acid Metabolism.

Comparative assessment of reproductive and intergenerational toxicity of perfluorooctanoic acid and hexafluoropropylene oxide trimer acid in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Predifferentiation Neurotoxicity of GenX Exposure on hiPSC-Derived Cortical Neurons.

Flame Retardants

Tetrabromobisphenol A exposure compromises antioxidant defense and mitochondrial ultrastructural damage, exacerbating hepatocellular apoptosis in Cyprinus carpio.

Trihexyl phosphate exposure disrupts mitophagy and activates mtDNA-cGAS-STING signaling to drive pyroptosis and steroidogenic impairment in Leydig cells.

Pesticides

Acetamiprid exerts sex-specific effects on adipose tissue of subjects with severe obesity.

Glycine alleviates the intestinal epithelial barrier damage induced by imidacloprid via promoting metabolic detoxification.

Glyphosate-Induced Metabolic and Immune Modulation in Hepatoma Cells: Identification of Key Genes as Diagnostic and Therapeutic Targets Using an In Silico Systems Biology Approach.

Combined effects of thermal variability and chlorpyrifos exposure on the physiology and immunity of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis).

Metals/Metalloids

α-Lipoic Acid Activates the Nrf2/HO-1 Pathway to Ameliorate Arsenic-Induced Multiorgan Oxidative Damage.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Isolated and Combined Exposure to Polystyrene Nanoplastics and a Phthalate Metabolite Mixture Disrupt Antral Follicle Growth and Function of Mice In Vitro.

A single oral exposure to polyethylene terephthalate microplastics causes mild metabolic and gastrointestinal disruption: dose and sex determinants.

Co-exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics and 3, 3′, 4, 4′, 5-pentachlorobiphenyl induces synergistic toxicity in human sperm.

Polydisperse polystyrene microplastics exacerbate colitis through gut microbiota-butyrate-PPARγ axis disruption in mice.

Polystyrene microplastics induce skeletal muscle atrophy through disruption of anabolic signaling and mitochondrial function.

Differential effects of polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene microplastics on mitochondrial gene expression in tadpoles of Polypedates megacephalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae).

Can wear time, material composition, and manufacturing processes affect microplastic release from clear orthodontic aligners? A multidisciplinary in vitro study.

Polyethylene Terephthalate Micro and Nanoplastics Induce Oxidative and Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress, Compromising Intestinal Epithelial Integrity and Viability.

Polyethylene nano- and microplastics trigger metabolic stress responses in human vaginal epithelial cells.

Miscellaneous

Enhanced transformation of antibiotic resistance genes: a new environmental risk of tire wear particles and leachates.

Exposure/Environment Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Environmental Risk and Adverse Perinatal Health Indicators in New York City: A Geospatial Hotspot Analysis.

Wild bird eggs as bioindicators of environmental contamination: A decade of xenobiotic monitoring in Spain.

Bisphenols

Assessment of Pergafast 201 absorption and metabolism in viable human skin: A comparative study with bisphenol A and bisphenol S.

Probabilistic Aggregate and Cumulative Toxicological Risk Assessment of Bisphenol Analogues (BPA, BPS, BPF, BPAF) from Personal Care Products in the Korean Population.

Phthalates

Determination of the half-life of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in a preterm neonate using blood transfusion as the source of intravenous exposure.

PFAS

Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Tap Water Following an Accidental Release of Fire-Fighting Foam into the Drinking Water System in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, USA.

Enhanced per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure in a large estuary-coastal sea continuum shortly after a spring flood event.

Strategies to Assess PFAS Emissions from a Fluoropolymer Manufacturing Plant.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site: Spatial distribution, bioavailability, co-occurrence with metals, and potential biomagnification.

Trophic magnification and distribution of per-/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in an AFFF-impacted aquatic food web.

Field-scale modeling of PFAS transport and transformation at a biosolids land disposal site.

Fate of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microbial communities in wastewater treatment: Disinfection-driven changes in microbial dynamics and PFAS profiles.

Miscellaneous

Artificial turf fields act as recurring point sources of metals and emerging tire-derived contaminants in stormwater.

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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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