Mom's Workplace Chemicals Affect Her Son's Hormones Decades Later
NonToxCo Research
Science & Safety Team · 4/8/2026
If your mother was exposed to endocrine-disrupting chemicals at work while pregnant with you, it may have changed your hormones permanently.
Workplace Exposure, Lifelong Effects
A 2026 study in Reprod Biomed Online linked prenatal occupational exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy to altered adult male reproductive hormones in the sons. Mothers who worked with chemicals during pregnancy had sons with different testosterone and other reproductive hormone levels as adults.
The chemicals involved include solvents, pesticides, heavy metals, and industrial chemicals that women encounter in workplaces like factories, farms, salons, and cleaning jobs.
What You Can Do
If you're pregnant and work around chemicals, talk to your employer about exposure reduction. Wear protective equipment. Request reassignment to lower-exposure duties during pregnancy. Browse non-toxic home essentials to reduce chemical exposure at home too.
Source: Blanc-Petitjean et al. (2026). Reprod Biomed Online.