New findings suggest women may pay a steeper price when it comes to glyphosate’s hidden dangers.
A major 2025 study published in Scientific Reports has revealed a troubling pattern: higher urinary glyphosate levels were more strongly linked to increased mortality among women than among men. While the risk rose for everyone, the association was particularly pronounced in females — raising serious questions about how glyphosate may uniquely harm women’s health.
What the Study Found
The study analyzed urine samples collected across three NHANES survey cycles from 2013 to 2018, then tracked participants’ mortality outcomes over approximately eight years. Overall, each 1 ng/mL rise in urinary glyphosate was linked to a 40% higher risk of all-cause mortality.
When the researchers broke down the data by gender, they found that women with higher glyphosate levels showed even stronger associations with mortality. Although the exact reasons are still under investigation, the results highlight a potentially gender-specific vulnerability to glyphosate’s toxic effects.
Why Might Women Be More at Risk?
Several theories could explain why glyphosate appears to hit women harder:
- Hormone Disruption — Glyphosate is suspected to interfere with the endocrine system. Because female hormonal cycles are tightly regulated and highly sensitive, any disruption could have outsized health impacts.
- Gut Microbiome Differences — Women’s gut microbiomes differ in important ways from men’s, and glyphosate’s antimicrobial properties might disrupt these critical systems more severely.
- Cumulative Exposure — Women often manage household gardening or food preparation, which may increase daily glyphosate exposure through residues, backyard spraying, or even dust.
- Reproductive Health Factors — Early research hints that glyphosate could affect reproductive hormones, pregnancy outcomes, or conditions like endometriosis, although these pathways need more study.
The Missing Gender Perspective
For decades, chemical risk assessments have relied on studies built around male biology, treating the female experience as an afterthought — if it was considered at all. As explored in “Missing by Design”, this blind spot has left women at disproportionate risk from everything from pharmaceuticals to environmental chemicals.
Glyphosate testing is no exception. Historically, regulatory bodies tested its safety using mostly male animals or male human data, assuming the results applied universally. That assumption is now being challenged by emerging evidence of glyphosate’s impacts on hormones, fertility, and pregnancy — all areas where women’s biology is distinct.
In other words, glyphosate may be another chemical whose risks were missing by design from the very studies meant to protect the public.
Reproductive Health: A Special Concern
Glyphosate’s suspected endocrine-disrupting effects raise particular alarms for women of reproductive age. Hormonal imbalances, menstrual disruption, and even miscarriage have been explored in early studies, though more research is urgently needed to confirm these links.
And one overlooked exposure route for women is menstrual products themselves — we broke this down in our full investigation into glyphosate found in tampons.
In countries like New Zealand, where glyphosate is sprayed heavily on food crops, the potential for daily, chronic low-level exposure could be especially troubling for women hoping to conceive or carry a healthy pregnancy.
Until regulators fill these knowledge gaps, women should consider taking extra steps to reduce their exposure — especially during preconception or pregnancy. Practical steps include:
✅ Prioritizing organic food where possible
✅ Using non-toxic methods for home weed control
✅ Advocating for glyphosate-free zones in community parks and playgrounds
✅ Supporting greater research funding into women’s health and environmental exposures
If a widely used weedkiller is more dangerous for half the population, we cannot afford to ignore that. The science is sounding a very clear warning: glyphosate may be a greater threat to women’s lives than we ever realized.
A Path Forward
New Zealand’s regulatory framework does not currently consider gender differences in chemical risk assessments. Most toxicology testing still defaults to male-focused models, ignoring the potential for sex-specific harms.
That needs to change. Regulators should apply a precautionary principle that accounts for gender, requiring safety reviews that look at endocrine, reproductive, and microbiome impacts in women.
Meanwhile, women can raise their voices to demand glyphosate-free community spaces, protect their families through informed choices, and push for a scientific process that finally stops ignoring half the population.
Further Reading & Resources
We cannot protect what we do not measure — and women’s health has been left out of the glyphosate conversation for far too long. These resources offer deeper insights, stronger evidence, and practical ways to push for change.
Missing by Design: Why Women Still Get Overlooked in Science
A critical look at how health and safety research has historically excluded women, creating dangerous knowledge gaps that persist today.
https://criticalmindshift.com/missing-by-design-sex-gender-research/
Glyphosate Urine Testing in NZ: Barriers and Challenges
Explains why glyphosate urine testing is hard to access in New Zealand, and how this lack of data puts public health — especially women’s health — at risk.
https://nomoreglyphosate.nz/glyphosate-urine-testing-nz-barriers/
Endocrine Disruptors and Women’s Health
From the Endocrine Society, a scientific summary of how chemicals like glyphosate may disrupt hormones and impact women’s reproductive health.
https://www.endocrine.org/topics/edc/what-edcs-are
Glyphosate and Reproductive Toxicity (California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment)
A summary of California’s review of glyphosate as a reproductive toxicant, with links to underlying evidence.
https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/chemicals/glyphosate
Feminist Toxic Free Future
Wen’s campaign advocating for a toxic-free future, focusing on reducing exposure to harmful chemicals that disproportionately affect women, children, and marginalized communities.
https://www.wen.org.uk/our-focus/feminist-toxic-free-future/
Every study, every overlooked voice, every call for fair testing points to the same truth: if glyphosate threatens half the population more severely, then business as usual is no longer acceptable.
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