Endocrine Disruption

Also see SNAP's glyphosate, glyphosate 2, exposure, legislation  main page as well as Europe, and cancer, health/digestive tract, reproductive health,  liver disease,  cancer, safety

Prenatal and Early Life Exposure to Glyphosate Herbicides Induce Hormonal Effects Disrupting Sleep and Neurodegenerative Diseases    (Beyond Pesticides, December 6, 2023) 'A study published in Antioxidants finds prenatal and early life exposure, usually after birth (perinatal), to glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) induce oxidative stress in the brain, causing damage and negatively affecting melatonin levels.'     Rat study. 'Researchers analyzed serum melatonin levels and changes in the striatum cells located in the brain among the offspring 90 days after their birth. The results find that serum melatonin levels decrease by 43 percent among adult offspring compared to control offspring. Exposure to GBH also induced oxidative stress in the brain, resulting in changes in the brain’s striatum, including a 45 percent increase in lipid peroxidation, a 39 percent increase in DNA/RNA oxidation, and an increase in protein levels of the antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase, glutamate–cysteine ligase, and glutathione peroxidase.'

New Viewpoint on the Historic Link between Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Cancer Discussed   (Beyond Pesticides, May 25, 2023) A review of scientific literature published in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation demonstrates exposure to past and current-use endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), like pesticides, have a long history of severe adverse human health effects.  Although the review finds many studies establishing a link between EDCs and cancers, there is a lack of current criteria to test new chemicals of endocrine disrupting potential and possible carcinogenic activity.

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Contribute to Liver Injury, including Toxic PFAS and Pesticides   (Beyond Pesticides, August 12, 2022) Gestational (during pregnancy) exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) like pesticides, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), among others, may increase pediatric (child) liver injury and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) risk, according to a study published in Environmental Health.   The study examined the effect of three organochlorine pesticides, four organophosphate pesticides, five polychlorinated biphenyls, two polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), three phenols, four parabens, ten phthalates, five PFAS, and nine metals on the liver.  The results confirm that all EDCs increase the odds of liver injury or liver cell apoptosis, except phthalates and phenols, due to high molecular weight.

“Inert” Pesticide Ingredients and Failure to Regulate Raise Dangers for All U.S. Residents    (Beyond Pesticides, August 9, 2022) The most widely used pesticide chemicals in the United States are not listed on product labels, yet pose widespread environmental and public health hazards, according to commentary published this month in Environmental Health Perspectives by two veteran researchers. At issue are adjuvants and so-called “inert” (or “other”) ingredients, chemicals that are added to formulated pesticide products, but do not undergo the same safety reviews as the active ingredient in pesticide products.   Researchers first draw a distinction between adjuvant products and inert ingredients in pesticide products. Adjuvants are materials specifically designed to improve the performance of a pesticide spray and are sold separately from formulated pesticide products. Adjuvants are “tank mixed” with a pesticide prior its application. Inert ingredients are any ingredient within a formulated pesticide product that is not designed to prevent, destroy, or repel a pest.   Researchers subsequently zeroed in on the most used material, the adjuvant α-(p-nonylphenyl)-ω-hydroxypoly(oxyethylene) (APNOHO). Over 10 million acres of agricultural land in California is sprayed with APNOHO each year. An analysis in the commentary finds that the little data EPA has produced on APNOHO indicates its hormone disrupting activity is more potent than the active pesticide ingredients and known endocrine disruptors methoxychlor and vinclozolin.     SNAP comment: In Canada, inert ingredients are called formulants. California identifies three CAS numbers for APNOHO: 127087-87-0, 26027-38-3, and 9016-45-9 . All three are  listed in list 2 (Potentially Toxic Formulants with a High Priority for Testing) in the 2021 Canadian list of formulants. It appears that they do not have to be listed on labels. As most formulatns are secret, who knows how much is used in Canada. I never checked if there is a separate lsit of adjuvants. 

Mother’s Exposure to Pesticides during Pregnancy Results in Sleep-Related Problems among Daughters     (Beyond Pesticides, April 20, 2022)  'Levels of inadequate sleep patterns are rising among children and adolescents. Reports find variability in sleep duration results in higher rates of depression, anxiety, and fatigue among juveniles. Since sleep is an important factor in normal brain development, disturbance in sleep patterns, such as sleeping too much or too little, can result in long-term associations between sleep and the brain’s white matter integrity (responsible for age-dependent cognitive function).  The results demonstrate that exposure to chlorpyrifos, but not pyrethroids, during pregnancy have greater associations with longer sleep duration and changes in sleep patterns among offspring.

Inspector General Rips EPA for Failure to Test Pesticides for Endocrine Disruption    (Beyond Pesticides, August 20, 2021) The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a damning report on the agency’s progress in protecting the population from potentially damaging endocrine disruption impacts of exposures to synthetic chemical pesticides (and other chemicals of concern). The report’s summary statement says, “Without the required testing and an effective system of internal controls, the EPA cannot make measurable progress toward complying with statutory requirements or safeguarding human health and the environment against risks from endocrine-disrupting chemicals.”   SNAP Comment: A google search has not brought me any closer to figuring out if endocrine disruption is considered in pesticide registration or how. I found a 2018 committee report on Advancing consideration of endocrine-disrupting chemicals under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 but CEPA is a different Act. 

Increase Breast Cancer Risk Through Hormone (Endocrine) Disruption   (Beyond Pesticides, July 29, 2021) New research published in Environmental Health Perspectives finds nearly 300 different chemicals in pesticides, consumer products, and contaminated resources (i.e., food, water) increase breast cancer risks. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, causing the second most cancer-related deaths in the United States...The study results find 296 chemicals associated with an increase in estradiol or progesterone. 182 and 185 different chemicals cause an increase in estradiol and progesterone, respectively, while 71 chemicals are responsible for the increased synthesis of both hormones.  

Breakdown Products (Metabolites) from Pesticides May Be More Toxic than Parent Compound, Study Finds  The original study adds 'The blind spot of pesticide risk assessment' to the title (Beyond Pesticides, May 6, 2021).   Nearly half of all breakdown products (transformation products-TP) from four common-use environmental pesticides produce stronger endocrine (hormone) disrupting (ED) effects than the parent compound, according to new research published in Environment International. The four pesticides studied were 'pyriproxyfen (Pyr), malathion (ML), benalaxyl (BX), and fenoxaprop-ethyl (FE), together with their 21 TPs through in vitro and in silico approaches,Also link to another article listing 300 endocrine disrupting products.  SNAP Comment: 0 registered pyriproxyfen (4 historical) and benalaxyl products in Canada,13 malathion products and 0 fenoxaprop-ethyl currently registered (4 historical).

Pesticide mixtures harm health even when each pesticide is present at "safe" levels   (GM Watch: 03 October 2020)   'The study also found that the use of molecular analytical techniques known as "omics" can reveal adverse effects on health that are missed by the standard toxicological measures used to support regulatory authorisations of pesticides..  The study is the first to directly compare in-depth profiling of an organism’s molecular components using “omics” analytical techniques with the standard toxicological measures that regulators rely upon to assess the health risks of pesticides.    The study found that the standard toxicological measures – analysis of water and feed consumption, body weight, histology (microscopic examination of tissues), and blood biochemistry – showed little or no evidence of harm. But in contrast, the omics analyses showed biochemical changes in the gut and blood and gene function changes in the liver that indicated the possible onset of harm.       This suggests that it is in the public interest that regulators adopt in-depth omics profiling as part of pesticides risk assessment policy, since the measures they currently rely upon are evidently lacking in sensitivity.”    "In our pesticide mixture, each pesticide was present at the ADI, which is set at least 100 times below the level at which the standard industry tests found no effect. So according to regulators we should have seen nothing.    It is dispiriting that EFSA appears to see any increased emphasis on sublethal effects as a problem rather than a benefit. In reality, such an emphasis would only be a problem for industry, which would rightly bear the burden of proving that any given effect seen by omics analysis is not in fact real. For the public, such an early warning system in pesticides testing would be a benefit and would help fulfil the aim of the precautionary principle, which is enshrined in the EU pesticides regulation.   Dr Antoniou says that there is already enough evidence for a high level of confidence in omics’ predictive ability: “Omics researchers do not interpret their results blindly in an ad hoc manner. They scrutinize them against a huge and ever-increasing database stemming from thousands of studies using this technology, which provide insights into omics profiles representative of health and different disease states. This allows accurate correlations between the results obtained and the health or disease status of the organism under study.”' 

Rate of Male Breast Cancer on the Rise in Scotland, Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Suspected   (Beyond Pesticides, January 29, 2020) A study of male breast cancer (MBC) in Scotland reports an alarming, increasing trend of this rare disease – especially in agricultural areas. While only accounting for 1% of diagnosed breast cancer, MBC forms in the breast tissue of men and is often fatal because of delayed diagnosis and lack of research on male-specific treatment.  Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can, even at low exposure levels, disrupt normal hormonal (endocrine) function. EDCs include many pesticides, exposures to which have been linked to infertility and other reproductive disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and early puberty, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and childhood and adult cancers.  EDCs represent an under-researched and under-regulated threat to human health. Beyond Pesticides wrote on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s stalled analysis of the risk these chemicals pose, “A persistent critique of EPA’s toxicological assumptions has to do with the “dose makes the poison” concept that underlies conventional toxicology. In fact, researchers have discovered that this concept—that the more exposure, the more extreme the impacts—is not consistently the case across exposures to chemical compounds such as pesticides. Additionally, even very low-level exposures (aka “doses”) can, in some instances, cause more extreme health impacts.”     A 2017 European study shows that costs of disease burden and health care related to chemical environmental exposures, writ large, may constitute a figure somewhere north of 10% of global gross domestic product (GDP). 

Assessment of Glyphosate Induced Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of Pathologies and Sperm Epimutations: Generational Toxicology Deepika Kubsad et al, www.nature.com/scientificreports, 23 April 2019)  Another first-of-its-kind study from Washington State University exposed pregnant rats to just half the rate of the commonly used herbicide Roundup that is considered safe for exposure. Researchers found that roughly 90 percent of the next two generations developed health problems by the time they were one year old, including kidney disease, obesity, or issues with their ovaries, testicles, or prostate.  The most dramatic finding, says WSU professor of biological sciences Michael Skinner, showed about one-third of the future generations had miscarriages and/or died during pregnancy.

Researchers Find that Fipronil Causes Transgenerational Toxic Effects  (Beyond Pesticides, June 12, 2019) A new study finds that the widespread insecticide fipronil causes transgenerational toxicity across generations of zebrafish...Fipronil is a broad-spectrum insecticide widely used for indoor and turf pest control in the U.S., and identified as a ubiquitous contaminant of U.S. surface waters. Fipronil is a known endocrine disruptor and has been shown to disrupt thyroid function in humans and wildlife.

Effect of Endocrine Disruptor Pesticides: A Review (Wissem Mnif et al,  Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2011 Jun; 8(6): 2265–2303)  'This paper reviews the current knowledge of the potential impacts of endocrine disruptor pesticides on human health.' It also gives a table of the pesticides (including insecticides, fungicides and herbicides) that have endocrine effects and what those effects are.  SNAP Comment: Since 2011, many more endocrine effects have been observed including effect on fat metabolism (obesogens) andepigenetic transgenerational actions. 

Assessment of Glyphosate Induced Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of Pathologies and Sperm Epimutations: Generational Toxicology (Scientific Reports | (2019) 9:6372   Scientific paper.'Therefore, we propose glyphosate can induce the transgenerational inheritance of disease and germline (e.g. sperm) epimutations. Observations suggest the generational toxicology of glyphosate needs to be considered in the disease etiology of future generations.'

$340 Billion in Annual Disease-Related Costs Associated with Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals  (Beyond Pesticides, March 1, 2019)    'January 2019 saw the publication of a new book, Sicker Fatter Poorer: The Urgent Threat of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals to Our Health and Future … and What We Can Do About It, by Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, which examines how some chemicals — including organophosphate and organochlorine pesticides — disrupt human endocrine (hormonal) function, and damage health, sometimes irreparably.The book further investigates the economic costs of associated diseases and other health problems to the U.S. economy — on the order of 2.3% of GDP (gross domestic product), or $340 billion, annually. As Dr. Trasande notes, “The reality is that policy predicts exposure, exposure predicts disease and disease ultimately costs our economy.”

Little Things Matter: The Impact of Toxins on the Developing Brain from Canadian Environmental Health Atlas Great short video visually illustrating the effects of toxins, including organophosphate insecticides, on the child's developing brain. To Watch. January 2017.

National Academy of Sciences Urges EPA to Study Low Dose Endocrine Disruption  (Beyond Pesticides, July 24, 2017) A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) is recommending to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a strategy to evaluate the evidence of adverse human health effects from low doses of exposure to chemicals that can disrupt the endocrine system... In 2013, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals a global health threat. A 2016 report concluded that exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals costs the U.S. more than $340 billion annually in  health care costs and lost wages. SNAP Comment: As far as I can tell, the test panel mandated to register a pesticide in Canada still dates from 1984. While the US was forced by a law suit to add one endocrine test  few years ago, Canada did not follow suit. Researchers in the field of endocrine disruption were not impressed with the test chosen because it is outdated. So, for all practical purposes, pesticides are not tested in any significant way for endocrine disruption in North America. My other concern is how the Canadian PMRA and US EPA evaluate risk. Their risk assessment is still based on the now outdated concept of "the dose makes the poison" . This cannot fit in the concept of endocrine disruption which shows effects at current environmental exposures and lower, well below the exposures the regulatory approach currently allows.

Perinatal exposure to glyphosate based herbicides causes thyroid disorders 
(Toxicology, Volume 377, 15 February 2017, Pages 25–37)  Several genes regulated by TH or involved in TH metabolism and transport presented varying degrees of gene expression alteration that were probably programmed during intrauterine exposure to GBHs and reflects in peripheral metabolism. In conclusion, the role of GBH exposure in HPT axis disruption should be considered in populations exposed to this herbicide.

Endocrine Disruptors Cost U.S. Billions in Health Care Costs and Lost Wages (Beyond Pesticides, October 25, 2016) Last week, a study, Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the USA: a population-based disease burden and cost analysis, published in The Lancet journal, concludes that exposure to pesticides and other chemicals found in common household items, such as toys, makeup and detergent, costs the U.S. more than $340 billion annually in health care costs and lost wages. The chemicals in question, endocrine disruptors (EDCs), interfere with the body’s hormone system, which can lead to a variety of health problems...According to Environmental Health News, the researchers estimate the costs by looking at exposure data and then projecting 15 medical conditions that are linked to endocrine disruptors and their associated health costs and lost wages.

Childhood Development Hurt By Preconception Exposure to Environmental Stressors (Beyond Pesticides, August 7, 2015)  Parental exposure to environmental stressors, such as pesticides, before a child is conceived can alter the way genes are expressed in the mother and father, ultimately harming the child’s health when those genes are passed down to the next generation, according to an article published in the Endocrine Society’s journal Endocrinology. According to a press release from the Endocrine Society, “Exposure to environmental stressors such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, psychological stress and malnutrition may result in disadvantageous epigenetic “reprogramming” that can echo through multiple generations.” 

Government Agency: We Must Reduce Toxics (Safelawns,Tue, Feb 23, 2010) Those of us who advocate for pesticide-free lawn care are constantly met with the same responses from the chemical industry: “Our products are safe when used as directed” or “We apply our pesticides in such small doses they couldn’t possibly be dangerous.” In what can only be called a ground-breaking debunking of those myths, the American Chemical Society — a non-partisan, non-profit organization chartered by Congress — called on the Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to completely revamp its testing procedures for toxic chemicals. The position statement was specifically targeting chemicals that disrupt the human endocrine system that controls our hormonal function. Here is a link to the full statement from the Chemical Society.

Facing Scientific Realities, Debunking the "Dose Makes the Poison" Myth: The big picture - linking pesticide science and health effects, by Warren Porter, Ph.D. (Pesticides and You. Vol 27, no 4, Winter 2007- 2008. Beyond Pesticides). Endocrine-disrupting substances have functional effects at very low doses; and the effects are often more severe at low doses. In general, low-dose mixtures of pesticides and/or other chemicals have also proven to be more toxic than expected from their individual toxicity.

Our Stolen future Database  Widespread Pollutants with Endocrine-disrupting Effects  This list includes many pesticides with their endocrine effects.