Chemical exposure in pregnancy widespread and linked to early and low-weight births

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-06-18 01:00

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US scientists say exposure to 10 classes of widely used chemicals during pregnancy is widespread in the USA, and being exposed to phthalates or alternative plasticisers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is linked with babies being born earlier or at a lower weight for their age at birth. The team investigated 5,318 US mother-child pairs, measuring mum's chemical exposure by testing urine samples for the 10 chemical classes: fungicides and herbicides; insecticides; halogenated phenols; organophosphate esters; benzophenones; bisphenols; parabens; antimicrobials; phthalates or alternative plasticizers; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). They found that 43 of the 113 chemicals they tested for were present in more than half the samples, and women with several phthalates or alternative plasticisers were more likely to give birth early or to a low-weight baby. Reducing pregnant women's exposure to chemicals, particularly phthalates or alternative plasticizers and PAHs, could increase healthy deliveries and improve outcomes for children, the authors conclude.

News release

From: JAMA

Gestational Exposure to 10 Classes of Priority Chemicals and Birth Outcomes in the ECHO Cohort

About The Study: This large cohort study of diverse U.S. pregnancies found widespread exposure to 10 classes of environmental chemicals, many of which were associated with differences in gestational age at birth or lower birth weight-for-gestational age z scores. These findings indicate that reducing gestational exposure to chemicals, particularly phthalates or alternative plasticizers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, could promote healthy deliveries and better child outcomes.

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conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, Stanford University, USA

Funder: Research reported in this publication was supported by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, under awards U2COD023375 (Coordinating Center), U24OD023382 (Data Analysis Center), U24OD023319 with cofunding from the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (Measurement Core), U24OD035523 (Lab Core), ES0266542 (Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource [HHEAR]), and the following awards to members of the ECHO Cohort Consortium: U24ES026539 (HHEAR Barbara O’Brien), U2CES026533 (HHEAR Lisa Peterson), U2CES026542 (HHEAR Patrick Parsons, Kurunthachalam Kannan), U2CES030859 (HHEAR Manish Arora), U2CES030857 (HHEAR Timothy R. Fennell, Susan J. Sumner, Xiuxia Du), U2CES026555 (HHEAR Susan L. Teitelbaum), U2CES026561 (HHEAR Robert O.Wright), U2CES030851 (HHEAR Heather M. Stapleton, P. Lee Ferguson), UG3/UH3OD023251 (Akram Alshawabkeh), UH3OD023320 and UG3OD035546 (Judy Aschner), UH3OD023332 (Clancy Blair, Leonardo Trasande), UG3/UH3OD023253 (Carlos Camargo), UG3/UH3OD023248 and UG3OD035526 (Dana Dabelea), UG3/UH3OD023313 (Daphne Koinis Mitchell), UH3OD023328 (Cristiane Duarte), UH3OD023318 (Anne Dunlop), UG3/UH3OD023279 (Amy Elliott), UG3/UH3OD023289 (Assiamira Ferrara), UG3/UH3OD023282 (James Gern), UH3OD023287 (Carrie Breton), UG3/UH3OD023365 (Irva Hertz-Picciotto), UG3/UH3OD023244 (Alison Hipwell), UG3/UH3OD023275 (Margaret Karagas), UH3OD023271 and UG3OD035528 (Catherine Karr), UH3OD023347 (Barry Lester), UG3/UH3OD023389 (Leslie Leve), UG3/UH3OD023344 (Debra MacKenzie), UH3OD023268 (ScottWeiss), UG3/UH3OD023288 (Cynthia McEvoy), UG3/UH3OD023342 (Kristen Lyall), UG3/UH3OD023349 (Thomas O’Connor), UH3OD023286 and UG3OD035533 (Emily Oken), UG3/UH3OD023348 (Mike O’Shea), UG3/UH3OD023285 (Jean Kerver), UG3/UH3OD023290 (Julie Herbstman), UG3/UH3OD023272 (Susan Schantz), UG3/UH3OD023249 (Joseph Stanford), UG3/UH3OD023305 (Leonardo Trasande), UG3/UH3OD023337 (RosalindWright), UG3OD035508 (Sheela Sathyanarayana), UG3OD035509 (Anne Marie Singh), UG3OD035513 and UG3OD035532 (Annemarie Stroustrup), UG3OD035516 and UG3OD035517 (Tina Hartert), UG3OD035518 (Jennifer Straughen), UG3OD035519 (Qi Zhao), UG3OD035521 (Katherine Rivera-Spoljaric), UG3OD035527 (Emily S Barrett), UG3OD035540 (Monique Marie Hedderson), UG3OD035543 (Kelly J. Hunt), UG3OD035537 (Sunni L. Mumford), UG3OD035529 (Hong-Ngoc Nguyen), UG3OD035542 (Hudson Santos), UG3OD035550 (Rebecca Schmidt), UG3OD035536 (Jonathan Slaughter), and UG3OD035544 (Kristina Whitworth).

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