07
Mar
On International Women’s Day, Pesticide Risks to Women’s Health Call for Urgent Transition to Organic
(Beyond Pesticides, March 7, 2025) In honor of International Women’s Day on Saturday, March 8, 2025, Beyond Pesticides sheds light on the disproportionate risks to women from toxic chemicals that are often unaccounted for and even dismissed throughout pesticide regulatory review and the underlying statutes. In a roundup of Daily News coverage in 2024, as well as the most recent scientific studies in 2025, on the scientific links between pesticide exposure and adverse effects in women, this article highlights the growing inequities in pesticide threats to women’s health.
Women farmers and farmworkers are particularly excluded when assessing pesticide risks. As previously reported by Beyond Pesticides, a study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine finds that pesticide exposure, especially during puberty, can play a role in ovarian cancer development among female farmers. Although there are many studies that evaluate the risk for cancers among farmers, very few scientific articles cover the risk of ovarian cancer from pesticide exposure.
Additionally, this study suggests the role of hormones in ovarian cancer prognosis and development, highlighting an association with endocrine disruption. Endocrine disruption can lead to numerous health problems in multiple organ systems, including hormone-related cancer development (e.g., thyroid, breast, ovarian, prostate, testicular), reproductive dysfunction, and diabetes/obesity that can span generations.
It must be noted that breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, “is the most common cancer in women in the United States, except for skin cancers. It accounts for about 30% (or 1 in 3) of all new female cancers each year.” Hundreds of thousands of breast cancer diagnoses occur each year. The American Cancer Society estimates for 2025 include approximately 316,950 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 42,170 deaths, as a result of breast cancer, in women. Beyond Pesticides has extensively covered the wide body of science linking pesticide exposure to breast cancer here and here.
In other scientific literature, a recent cross-sectional study in Heliyon highlights the link between sleep disorders in Thai farmers and pesticide exposure while also revealing that “women are at a higher risk of sleep-related issues with pesticide exposure compared to males,” the researchers report. (See Daily News coverage here.)
Additional research published in Environmental Pollution reports the effects of the widely used insecticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) on gut dysbiosis in women, with more pronounced impacts in pregnant women. In noting intestinal imbalance in both non-pregnant and pregnant women, the study “enhances our understanding of the health risks associated with CPF exposure in women, with implications for maternal and fetal health, and underscores the importance of considering physiological states such as pregnancy in toxicological research.”
Sex-specific health implications from pesticides within a multitude of studies showcase how males and females can experience different effects from exposure. These differences can be attributed to variations in hormone levels and reproductive organs that can be adversely affected by endocrine-disrupting chemicals. A recent study in Biology of Sex Differences regarding different clinical features between men and women states, “Despite widespread recognition of these differences, females are under-represented in clinical and experimental studies.” In analyzing sex and gender differences in the molecular etiology of Parkinson’s disease, the authors find transcriptomic (relating to RNA, gene expression, and cell/tissue regulation) and epigenetic (changes in gene expression and cell function without DNA alterations) differences in men and women. This highlights how variations between men and women in gene regulation and hormones can impact disease outcomes.
The study also notes the gender bias associated with pesticides that are correlated with Parkinson’s diagnoses, compounded by biological differences. The authors conclude: “In addition to the gender-based likelihood of exposure, pesticides and neurotoxins interact with biological sex-related factors. Higher levels of adipose tissue in females compared with males increase the risk for pesticide absorption and later release into the bloodstream. Changes in estrogen levels during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause also affect susceptibility to negative health effects of pesticide exposure. Finally, pesticide exposures may interact with genetic and epigenetic factors differently in each sex.” (See additional coverage on sex-specific effects in mammals here.)
A report by the American Cancer Society, titled “Cancer Mortality Continues to Drop Despite Rising Incidence in Women; Rates of New Diagnoses Under 65 Higher in Women Than Men,” finds disparities in cancer deaths and diagnoses for not only women but by race and ethnicity. The report highlights, “Despite overall declines in cancer mortality, death rates are increasing for cancers of the oral cavity, pancreas, uterine corpus, and liver (female).”
As Beyond Pesticides previously stated, if we are not protecting the most vulnerable in society, we ultimately adversely affect the entire society because we are intricately linked in the web of life. Pesticide regulation, which has failed—even under friendly administrations—to protect human health, enhance biodiversity, and prevent climate disasters, is in need of reform in order to protect those at greatest risk, and in doing so, protect the general population.
The research that connects pesticides, such as glyphosate, 2,4-D, and dicamba, to heightened risks in women and their children of cancer risk, developmental delays, neurotoxicity, infertility, negative birth outcomes, and diabetes is overwhelming. Of the subset of studies analyzed over the past year, noteworthy coverage includes:
- A study published in Environmental Research finds an association between adverse neurodevelopment (brain function and development) among infants and exposure to the herbicide glyphosate during pregnancy (gestational). (Daily News available here.)
- In a first-of-its-kind series of biomonitoring studies published in Agrochemicals, researchers identified the presence of the herbicides dicamba and 2,4-D in all pregnant participants from both cohorts in 2010-2012 and 2020-2022. (Daily News available here.)
- Published in Science of The Total Environment, a comprehensive literature review of population-based studies finds strong linkages between direct and acute pesticide exposure and elevated risk of breast cancer. Included in these studies are women who worked in chemical-intensive agricultural settings, directly sprayed pesticides in their at-home gardens, and/or handled pesticide-contaminated clothing. (Daily News available here.)
- Pesticide exposure is linked to negative birth outcomes in a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The researchers correlate mothers living within 500 meters of any pyrethroid, organophosphate, or carbamate insecticide applications during specific windows before and during pregnancy with stillbirth. (Daily News available here.)
- A comprehensive literature review in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety links a heightened risk of spontaneous abortion with pesticide exposure, allowing the researchers to highlight an important public health issue and raise concerns for maternal contact with the harmful chemicals in pesticide products. (Daily News available here.)
- In a Frontiers in Public Health review article, researchers report on the wide body of science connecting adverse effects to the female reproductive system, such as infertility and related diseases including endometriosis, premature ovarian insufficiency, and endocrine axis dysregulation, with exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. (Daily News available here.)
- Women with occupational pesticide exposure have elevated rates of breast cancer, according to a study in Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology. Based on an analysis of clinicopathological data from 188 affected women, the study authors demonstrate “that occupational exposure to pesticides modifies the clinical presentation of disease in breast cancer patients, depending on their age at disease onset, affecting cytokine production, especially in those exhibiting early age at diagnosis.” (Daily News available here.)
With the fight for proper representation for women in all aspects of life, the need for equitable scientific research in both toxicology studies and clinical trials is clear, according to health advocates. According to the Katz Institute for Women’s Health: “Medical research has left women in the dark for years… Failing to take extraordinary steps to ensure women are well represented in clinical trials and to assess differences between sexes in medical therapy leaves a lot of women’s health up to chance.” The absence of women in important research is “limiting biological understanding and contributing to health inequities and social injustice,” according to a study in Cell Reports Medicine.
Beyond Pesticides has long since covered the regulatory deficiencies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the Daily News post titled “Human Health Disregarded with Obsolete Regulations and Risk Management, Researchers Find,” it is highlighted how assessments relying on outdated principles and expectations put human health at risk. Gender inequalities within these assessments are one of many data gaps that threaten human health. (See more on EPA failures here.)
On International Women’s Day—and every day—pesticides’ adverse effects on women, inadequate regulatory recognition of elevated pesticide risks to women, and the gaps in research related to pesticides and women’s health must empower a louder and larger driving force in the elimination of petrochemical pesticide and fertilizer use and transition to organic practices. In commemorating women in science, take a look at “Sí, se puede”—Letter and Reflection From the Women of Beyond Pesticides. Happy International Women’s Day to all!
In furtherance of the 2025 International Women’s Day (IWD) goal of accelerating action, Beyond Pesticides asks you to consider the ways in which the regulation of (or failure to restrict) toxic chemicals poses disproportionate harm to women. On this day, and every day, pesticides’ adverse effects on women, inadequate regulatory recognition of elevated pesticide risks to women, and the gaps in research related to pesticides and women’s health must empower a louder and larger driving force in the elimination of petrochemical pesticide and fertilizer use and transition to organic practices. >> Tell Congress to insist on eliminating pesticides that endanger women’s health.
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
Sources:
Abou Diwan, M. et al. (2025) Effects of Chlorpyrifos on gut dysbiosis and barriers integrity in women with a focus on pregnancy and prebiotic intervention: Insights from advanced in vitro human models, Environmental Pollution. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749124022504.
Schaffner, S. et al. (2025) Sex and gender differences in the molecular etiology of Parkinson’s disease: considerations for study design and data analysis, Biology of Sex Differences. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13293-025-00692-w.
