Puberty starts at different ages, and scientists are examining whether routine contact with certain chemicals could help shift that timing.
One new study from Spain points in that direction, reporting that two pesticide-linked compounds were associated with opposite changes in when girls got their first periods.
What happened?
According to the University of Granada (via Medical Xpress), researchers at the university and the ibs.granada Biomedical Research Institute looked at 506 girls in Spain to see whether pesticide residues were related to the age of menarche, the first menstrual period. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Research.
To estimate exposure, the scientists tested urine samples taken from the girls between 2013 and 2016, when they were 7 to 10 years old. The participants lived in Asturias, Guipúzcoa, Sabadell, and Valencia, and the study continued until they were 14 to 16 so the team could note when menarche occurred.
The clearest patterns involved ethylenethiourea (ETU) and TCPy. Girls with higher levels of ETU — a residue from dithiocarbamate fungicides — tended to reach menarche earlier, while detection of TCPy, a chlorpyrifos breakdown product, was tied to later menarche, especially among girls who were overweight or obese.
Why does it matter?
When puberty happens can matter for health well beyond adolescence.
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In girls, earlier menarche has been associated with more psychological difficulties during the teen years and with higher odds of hormone-related cancers, including breast cancer, later on.
The results also feed broader worries about endocrine disruptors — chemicals that can imitate hormones or disrupt how hormonal signals function during important developmental windows.
While no single food or exposure guarantees a specific outcome, research like this helps scientists understand how biology, behavior, and environmental factors may interact over time. It also gives regulators, doctors, and public health experts a clearer sense of which chemicals may warrant closer scrutiny.
For many people, conventionally grown foods are one of the main ways these pesticide exposures reach the body.
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Beyond possible health impacts, the widespread use of pesticides has also raised concerns about environmental contamination, including damage to soil, water, and pollinators that are essential to healthy ecosystems.
What's being done?
Some regulatory action has already been taken.
In the European Union, chlorpyrifos and several dithiocarbamate fungicides — among them mancozeb and maneb — have already been banned over concerns involving neurological development, fertility, and environmental damage.
Still, people remain exposed to other pesticides, including pyrethroids and glyphosate, and debate over their safety is ongoing. Under the EU's Green Deal, the "Farm to Fork" strategy calls for cutting chemical pesticide use by 50% by 2030, according to Medical Xpress.
The authors described the work as pioneering but said it "should be interpreted with caution." They also called for studies in other populations to clarify how pesticide exposure may influence the timing of puberty.
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