REVIEW article
Front. Toxicol.
Sec. Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/ftox.2025.1656297
This article is part of the Research TopicFrom North to South: A Global Perspective on the Impact of Endocrine Disruptors on Reproductive Development and FunctionView all 3 articles
Pesticides, An Urgent Challenge to Global Environmental Health and Planetary Boundaries
Provisionally accepted
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
There is increasing evidence that pesticides act as endocrine disruptors, developmental toxicants, and reproductive toxicants. In this review, we describe several global challenges associated with pesticide production and use that put the health of human and wildlife populations at risk. These include: (1) the global production and use of pesticides is high, leading to increasing rates of release into the environment; (2) exposures to non-target species (including humans) are well documented, and pesticides often have adverse effects on these species; (3) pesticides, and especially those that are persistent organic pollutants, do not stay where they are used, contributing to ecosystem pollution far from their intended areas of application; (4) climate change can exacerbate the use of pesticides; and (5) social determinants of health (race/ethnicity, sex, and occupation) influence pesticide exposures and the adverse effects associated with these exposures. In 2009, the concept of planetary boundaries was introduced as a framework to evaluate how human actions impact earth systems. The planetary boundaries were based on a shared understanding that human activities have significant and sometimes irreversible effects on key aspects of environmental health. When considering the global impact of pesticides, these products can disrupt several planetary boundaries including biogeochemical cycles, biosphere integrity (e.g., measures of biodiversity), and the availability of clean freshwater, but the greatest challenge posed by pesticides is the "novel entities" boundary (i.e., the introduction of synthetic chemicals and materials into the environment). The planetary boundaries framework makes clear that failure to act against the most concerning chemicals, including pesticides, ultimately puts the survival of human populations at risk.
Keywords: sustainability, Endocrine disrupting chemical, insecticide, herbicide, Equity, Justice, disparities
Received: 29 Jun 2025; Accepted: 15 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Vandenberg, Pierce and Arsenault. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Laura N Vandenberg, lvandenberg@schoolph.umass.edu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.