A large new study from NYU Langone Health has found that pregnant women with higher levels of glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup and other widely used herbicides — in their urine during mid-pregnancy were more likely to deliver early, before 37 weeks of gestation. The study was published last week in the journal Environmental Pollution.
What the researchers did
The study followed 1,450 pregnant women enrolled in the NYU Children’s Health and Environment Study, a long-running project tracking families from pregnancy through childhood. All were planning to deliver at NYU Langone-affiliated hospitals in New York City between 2016 and 2019.
Each woman gave a urine sample at least once during pregnancy: 1,350 provided a sample in early gestation (4 to under 18 weeks), and 1,025 provided one in mid-gestation (18 to 25 weeks); 925 women gave samples at both points. Researchers measured levels of glyphosate itself, as well as AMPA, a breakdown product that forms when soil microorganisms metabolize the chemical.
The team then reviewed medical records to determine each woman’s gestational age at delivery, and — importantly — whether any early birth was spontaneous (labor started on its own, or the water broke early) or medically indicated (a doctor intentionally induced labor or performed an early cesarean for a maternal or fetal health reason, such as preeclampsia or poor fetal growth). Statistical models accounted for factors including maternal age, pre-pregnancy weight, race/ethnicity, education, insurance type, and tobacco exposure.
What they found
Overall, 7.1% of the women in the study (103 out of 1,450) delivered preterm.
Women with higher glyphosate levels in their mid-pregnancy (18–25 week) urine sample were significantly more likely to deliver preterm: each increase in glyphosate concentration was associated with 35% higher odds of preterm birth. The association was considerably stronger for spontaneous preterm birth specifically — about double the odds — while glyphosate showed no meaningful link to medically indicated early deliveries.
Two other patterns stood out:
- Glyphosate measured earlier in pregnancy (before 18 weeks) showed no association with preterm birth at all — the risk turned up only with mid-pregnancy exposure.
- AMPA, glyphosate’s breakdown product, was not associated with preterm birth at either time point, despite being chemically related to glyphosate.
Because the association appeared only for spontaneous preterm birth — not the medically indicated kind — the researchers say this points toward glyphosate acting on the body’s own labor-triggering mechanisms, such as inflammation or oxidative stress, rather than on the pregnancy complications that lead doctors to intervene early.
Why this matters
Preterm birth is one of the leading causes of illness and death among newborns, and babies born early face higher risks of breathing problems, infections, and long-term developmental difficulties.
Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used herbicide, sprayed on staple crops like grains and legumes as well as on lawns and gardens, and residues turn up in cereals, snack foods, and fresh produce. The researchers note that most prior human research on glyphosate has focused on farmworkers with heavy occupational exposure — linked in earlier studies to non-Hodgkin lymphoma — while comparatively little has been known about the low-level, everyday exposure that comes simply from eating food containing trace residues. This study is among the largest to examine that everyday exposure specifically in pregnancy, and one of the few to measure the chemical at more than one point in gestation, allowing the researchers to pinpoint mid-pregnancy as the window that mattered.
Where this fits with earlier research
The findings broadly align with — and help clarify — a somewhat mixed body of prior research. A Canadian study of comparable size found no link between early-pregnancy glyphosate exposure and preterm birth, consistent with what this study found for the early-pregnancy time point; but that study didn’t measure exposure later in pregnancy, which is where this new study detected the association. A smaller study in Puerto Rico similarly found a link between glyphosate exposure later in pregnancy (after 26 weeks) and spontaneous preterm birth. A separate US multi-state study found a connection between second-trimester glyphosate exposure and shorter pregnancies, but only after excluding medically induced deliveries from the analysis — reinforcing this study’s point that lumping spontaneous and medically indicated preterm births together can obscure real effects.
What can people do with this information?
Glyphosate Box
Glyphosate Residue Free Certification for Food Brands – Click Here
Test Your Food and Water at Home for Glyphosate – Click Here
Given how widespread glyphosate is in the food supply and environment, the study’s authors suggest that individual dietary choices — such as choosing organic grains and produce where feasible — are unlikely on their own to eliminate exposure. They argue their findings support the case for reevaluating glyphosate’s regulatory status specifically for reproductive risks, and for placing greater priority on protecting pregnant women and infants — two groups long recognized by researchers as especially vulnerable to environmental chemical exposures — in future chemical safety reviews.
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