19
Aug
Biomonitoring of Total Pesticide Exposure Shows Adverse Effects to Women’s Reproductive Health
(Beyond Pesticides, August 19, 2025) A new study from Argentina highlights the importance of applying the concept of the exposome (total exposures over lifetime) as a scientific framework, the value of biomonitoring, and findings of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The study documents the presence and effects of pesticides on maternal and fetal health during pregnancy. The results show that pregnant Argentine women are exposed to dozens of pesticides, and that certain mixtures of these chemicals are associated with harm to pregnancy outcomes, especially among rural women. The exposome, the authors write, comprises the “non-genetic factors that may be involved in the development or aggravation of human disease. The prenatal exposome includes all environmental chemicals that the mother is exposed to during pregnancy (maternal exposome) and those chemicals that reach the placenta and fetus from the maternal circulation (fetal exposome).” The authors emphasize that understanding the exposome almost by definition requires studying mixtures of environmental chemicals rather than analyzing the effects of each in isolation. The second important aspect of the study is its use of biomonitoring. The researchers analyzed urine samples from 90 pregnant women in various gestational stages from rural and urban regions of Argentina. The researchers also collected demographic […]
