EDC Science Weekly, Mar. 6-12, 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:

How can academic researchers more effectively contribute to environmental toxicology and health efforts for regulatory decisions, policymakers, nonprofits, and communities?
Associations of Serum PFAS with COVID-19 Antibody Levels among Fully Vaccinated Adults.

Science summaries and highlights

Events

Mar. 12 (today!) webinar: How to get plastic out of student meals [Beyond Plastics]

Mar. 16 film released on Netflix: The Plastic Detox, featuring Dr. Shanna Swan.

Mar. 17 webinar: PFAS in Drinking Water: Health risks, science and solutions in Alaska and beyond [CHE Alaska]

Mar. 19 webinar: Preparation of the Global Framework on Chemicals – First International Conference Report on Existing Emerging Policy Issues (EPIs) and other Issues of Concern (IOCs) [Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC)]

Apr. 2 webinar: Plastics, Chemicals, and Fertility with Dr. Shanna Swan [EDC Strategies Partnership]

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

Summer 2026: Registration is open for the Skills for Health and Research Professionals (SHARP) Training program [Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health]. Scholarship deadline is March 20.

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; Abstract submission open March 16 to April 16.

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

Regulations/Policy

How can academic researchers more effectively contribute to environmental toxicology and health efforts for regulatory decisions, policymakers, nonprofits, and communities?

The National Toxicology Program: A Reimagined Partnership to Enhance Its Impact and Further Safeguard Public Health

Differential endocrine and reproductive responses across generations: highlighting the need for holistic assessment in regulatory toxicology.

Global Disparities in the Regulation of PFASs: The Risk of Shifting the PFAS Pollution Burden to Developing Countries.

Bridging AI Advancements with Risk Assessment Needs: A Journey Towards Effective Use and Regulatory Acceptance.

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

Methods/Tools/Screening

Transcriptomics-Guided Outcome Prediction (T-GOP) for Ecotoxicity Assessment: A Proof-of-Concept Study of PFOS Alternative OBS Disrupting Zebrafish Neurotransmitter Homeostasis and Cognition.

Adverse outcome pathway-informed machine learning for predicting vascular toxicity of emerging organic pollutants.

Can we integrate plasma protein binding data into IATA using new approach methodologies? A case study on bisphenol analogs.

Development of an integrative cross-omics approach for conceptual adverse outcome pathway network construction.

Commentaries

Commentary: Pesticides and GBA1 pathogenic variants in Parkinson’s disease: An emerging and potentially dangerous association.

Trump’s glyphosate order infuriates MAHA movement, leaving RFK Jr exposed.

Retraction of Williams et al. (2000) does not affect the conclusions of the 2016 FAO/WHO JMPR evaluation of glyphosate. [letter]

Big-eaters choking? Macrophages can’t stomach microplastics.

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Overview of the Most Common Endocrine Disruptors: Exposure, Mechanism, Health Effects, and Remediation Strategies.

Environmental and microbiome determinants of sperm quality: a narrative review on male health.

Environmental determinants of male infertility: emerging threats and technological interventions.

Bridging the Gap: How environmental exposures compromise male fertility and clinical Outlook.

Unraveling environmental pollutant-induced lipid metabolism disorders: Emerging insights from lipidomic studies in fish models.

Endocrine and immune pathways under pressure: teleost responses to a changing environment.

Zebrafish: a key model for unraveling endocrine-disrupting effects on thyroid development and function.

Disruption of estrogen signaling by developmental exposure to BPA and TBT causes long term functional deficits in zebrafish retina.

Bisphenols

Bisphenol S and Neurological Health: An Integrated Overview of Neurotoxicity and Underlying Mechanisms.

Systems Toxicology of Bisphenol A: Mechanistic Overlap in Metabolic and Reproductive Disruption.

Phthalates

Phthalates as the silent saboteurs of male fertility via changes in semen quality: a systematic review.

Pesticides

Ecological and reproductive consequences of endocrine disrupting chemicals in agricultural systems.

Impact of Pesticide Exposure on Asthma and Allergic Airway Disease.

Metals/Metalloids

Global Burden of Lead Exposure: Integrating Epidemiology, Molecular Mechanisms, and Mitigation Approaches.

Heavy Metals as Accelerators of Dementia Progression: Evidence From a Stage-Specific Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Emerging Links Between Cardiovascular Disease and Microplastics Exposure – A Narrative Review.

Interactions between polystyrene-derived micro- and nanoplastics and the microbiota: a systematic review of multi-omics mouse studies.

Air Pollution

Air pollution and male infertility: A meta-umbrella study of evidence on semen quality.

Exposure to particulate matters and risk of diabetes-related mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Human Health Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Prenatal Exposure to Mixtures of Nonpersistent Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Angiogenic Biomarkers, Placental Function, and Fetal Growth.

Bisphenols/Parabens

Associations of Environmental Phenols Exposure with Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Nested Case-Control Study.

Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A and parabens and birth outcomes: The Taiwan Maternal and Infant Cohort Study (TMICS).

Phthalates

Elevated phthalate exposure and metabolic susceptibility increased breast cancer risk: A 20-y follow-up study in Taiwan.

PFAS

Associations of Serum PFAS with COVID-19 Antibody Levels among Fully Vaccinated Adults.

Serum Perfluoroalkyl Substances and Infant Measles Antibody Concentrations Before and After Vaccination: Results from Burkina Faso.

Retraction notice to “Association between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and depression in U.S. adults: A cross-sectional study of NHANES from 2005 to 2018” [Environ. Res. 238 (2023) 117188].

Flame Retardants

Genetic variations interact with polybrominated diphenyl ether exposure to alter lipid homeostasis.

Gestational exposure to organophosphate ester flame retardants and child growth in weight, height, and body mass index at age 2-10 years: the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Program.

Prenatal exposure to organophosphate esters: Evidence of sex-specific risks for maternal and neonatal health.

Integrating NHANES and network toxicology to assess the impact of organophosphate flame retardants on cardiovascular disease.

Pesticides

Duration of agricultural pesticide exposure application and Parkinson’s disease in California’s central valley.

A Two-Wave Panel Biomonitoring Study of Changes in Urinary Pesticide Metabolites and Their Associations with Liver Function and Inflammatory Markers.

Metals/Metalloids

Environmental metal exposure and autism spectrum disorder: spatial analysis of exposure patterns and associated risk among children in Alabama.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Relationship between microplastics in stool, diet, and inflammatory markers in healthy Japanese individuals.

Association of faecal and urinary micro- and nanoplastics with markers of gut integrity and renal function.

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

Use of Chemical Hair Straighteners and Menstrual Disturbances.

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Multistress in a changing world: Impacts of pollutant mixture and temperature on stress response, endocrine system, and detoxification mechanisms in the freshwater gastropod Physa acuta (Draparnaud, 1805).

Environmental Mixture Toxicity of Guanitoxin and Organophosphates in Zebrafish: from Developmental and Neurobehavioral Phenotypes to Transcriptomic Responses.

Bisphenols

Core targets of bisphenol A in cervical cancer revealed by network toxicology and molecular docking.

Transient exposure to bisphenol F in early life affects the metabolic health of adults.

Vitamin E fails to prevent bisphenol S induced testicular damage in diabetic rats.

Fucoxanthin Attenuates Bisphenol A-Induced Testicular Injury via NF-κB-Mediated Pyroptosis Inhibition.

Effects of Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S on Human Fallopian Tube Contractions: An in vitro and in silico study.

Bisphenol analogs affected hepatic development and disrupted lipid homeostasis in zebrafish larvae.

Phthalates

Transgenerational reproductive and neurotoxic effects of plasticizer dicyclohexyl phthalate in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Transgenerational effects of maternal exposure to diethyl phthalate (DEP) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

In vivo toxicity of Dioctyl Phthalate in adult and zebrafish larvae.

Molecular and toxicological study of the plasticizers exposure-induced metabolic disorders.

Migration of phthalate compounds from polyethylene terephthalate bottles under different temperature conditions- probabilistic human health risk assessment.

Mechanism study of phthalate exposure promoting endometriosis: Based on the ferroptosis perspective.

Release Mechanisms of Plasticizers from Emerging Biodegradable Plastics and Their Aging Behavior.

Metabolic and Circadian Bioenergetic Alterations Following PFOA Exposure and High-Fat Diet in Female C57BL/6 Mice.

An environmentally relevant phthalate mixture impairs ovulatory prostaglandin and progesterone receptor pathways in human granulosa cells in vitro.

Parabens/Triclosan/Antimicrobials

Methylparaben Induces Gut Microbiota-Dependent Neurotoxicity in Zebrafish.

PFAS

Photoperiod perturbations impact perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) induced developmental toxicity.

GenX-associated molecular signatures overlap with testicular aging and male infertility: a multi-omics integration analysis.

Human Intestinal Microbiota Composition Shapes Model Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Biotransformation.

Female reproductive toxicity of chronic exposure to perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) under the confounding factor of dietary protein deficiency.

Flame Retardants

Emerging organophosphate flame retardant CDP causes neovascular macular degeneration-like alterations of outer blood-retinal barrier via paracrine VEGFA signaling.

Deriving toxicity thresholds for hexabromocyclododecanes by cross-species and cross-route extrapolations on the basis of a human multiroute physiologically based toxicokinetic model.

Organotins

Sex-Specific Cardiac Responses to Subacute Exposure to Tributyltin in Rats.

Pesticides

Fertility decline induced by subchronic exposure to an atrazine-mesotrione mixture in male Wistar rats.

Neurotoxic effects of binary and ternary fungicide mixtures in developing zebrafish: a multi-endpoint assessment.

Network toxicology study and key target validation of chlorpyrifos-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Combined effects of environmentally relevant glyphosate concentration and elevated temperature on zebrafish embryotoxicity.

The larvicide temephos decreases the fertilization rate of rat spermatozoa by altering different processes of the acrosome reaction and actin polymerization.

Hepatic and Morphological Impairments Induced by Subchronic Exposure to Fipronil Chlorination Byproducts in Adult Zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Melatonin mitigates dichlorvos-induced derangements in the testes and epididymis of male Wistar rats.

Metals/Metalloids

Dietary folate supplementation modifies effects of arsenic exposure on DNA methylation profiles in sperm of mice expressing the human AS3MT.

Co-exposure to arsenic and nickel induces oxidative stress and mineral imbalance, impairing male reproductive parameters in Wistar rats.

Gut Microbiota Remodeling after Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Is Associated with Reduced Inflammation and Cardiac Injury in Fluoride-Arsenic Co-Exposed Rats.

Cognitive behavioral dysregulation induced by low-level lead, cadmium, and mercury co-exposure is linked to AMPA receptor-associated with E/I imbalance.

Developmental Defects in Embryos and Larvae of Zebrafish Exposed to Arsenic and Fluoride Both Individually and in Combination.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Molecular-Scale Insights into the Interactions between Perfluoroalkyl Substances and Polyethylene.

Repeated exposure to polyethylene microplastic mixtures containing PFAS and bisphenols activates THP-1 macrophages with inflammatory features.

Polystyrene Nanoplastics and Cadmium Co-Exposure Accelerates Mitochondrial Autophagy Mediated by HSP60-SIRT3-SOD₂ Signaling Pathway in Primary Duck Embryo Hepatocytes.

The mechanism of oxidative stress induced by nanoplastics in Caenorhabditis elegans: Integrated analysis of transcriptomics and metabolomics.

Antioxidant supplementation under microplastic stress: Protective or pro-oxidant effects in amphibians.

Polyethylene Microplastic Exposure Disrupts Sex and Gut Hormones via Gut Microbial and Metabolic Pathways.

Polyethylene terephthalate microplastics impair erectile function through macrophage mediated cGAS-STING ferroptosis.

In vitro effects of polystyrene microplastics exposure on adipose tissue dysfunction.

Toxicity of polycaprolactone nanoplastics, pristine or weathered in environmental conditions, to human intestinal epithelial cells, in vitro.

Polyethylene Microplastic Exposure Disrupts Sex and Gut Hormones via Gut Microbial and Metabolic Pathways.

Weathered plastic particles negatively affect mouse primary neurons and glial cells.

Brain lipidomics identifies mitochondrial redox dysfunction and metabolic trade-offs associated with Parkinson’s disease-like pathology induced by Nanoplastics exposure.

Systematic in vivo (Zebrafish) and in vitro study on nanoplastics-induced AChE inhibition.

Miscellaneous

6PPD-quinone promotes ovarian cancer progression: Insights from network toxicology, machine learning, and in vitro validation.

Exposure/Environment Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Effect-Based Methods and Effect-Based Trigger values for Estrogenicity Monitoring in Surface Water: an Interlaboratory Study.

Towards safe plastic recycling: A novel framework for identifying chemicals of concern in plastic waste.

Phthalates

Detection of phthalate compounds in wet wipes using LC-MS/MS: risk assessment and LC-QTOF/MS findings.

PFAS

Ionic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in inhalable aerosols from wastewater treatment processes: Spatiotemporal variations, dispersion characteristics, influencing factors, and risks.

Integrating target, nontarget analysis with machine learning to illuminate PFAS characteristics and health risks in Chinese cosmetics.

Raptors as Sentinels: Unveiling the Environmental and Health Risks of Pfas Contamination.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) profile in sludge biosolid fertiliser intended for agricultural use in Japan.

Accumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their association with immune parameters in nestling ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) from Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, USA.

Pesticides

Pesticide exposure among organic and conventional smallholder farmers in Costa Rica and Uganda: biomarker evidence on exposure determinants.

Uncovering Health Hazards from Agricultural Practices Among Farmers in a Caribbean Country: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Validated LC-MS/MS method for the quantification of glyphosate and its metabolites in human serum: A biomonitoring study in farming intensive regions of the Western Cape, South Africa.

Metals/Metalloids

Historical Redlining and Racial Disparities in Child Blood Lead Levels in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Integrated Chemical and Hazard Assessment of Plastic Pellets from the Toconao Spill (Galicia, Spain) Indicates Potential for Environmental Harm.

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Releasing Preservatives in Personal Care Products Used by Black Women and Latinas.

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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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