Let’s start with the short answer. A handful of studies have linked some pesticides to erection problems, but they’re small, they don’t agree with each other, and none shows that pesticides cause erectile dysfunction.
Erection trouble itself is common. Healthify says about 50% of men aged 50 and over, and 80% of those 80 or over, have some problems with erections.
What the studies found
One of the earliest studies, published in 2002, looked at 199 men attending three andrology clinics in Argentina for erection problems. Men exposed to pesticides were about seven times more likely to show a flat pattern of night-time erections on a monitor. The estimate was imprecise, though, and only 26 men in the study had that pattern.
A 1997 Cairo University study of 380 Egyptian pesticide formulators and applicators, compared with 223 unexposed men, found erectile dysfunction among the most frequent symptoms. That study set out to screen for psychiatric disorders, not erection problems.
A Canadian study published in 2007 went the other way. Researchers at Queen’s University tested the blood of 101 men with erectile dysfunction and 234 men without it for organochlorine pesticides and PCBs, chemicals suspected of disrupting hormones. They found no evidence of a link, and two pesticides were tied to a lower risk, which the team said could be chance.
More recent work uses the United States’ national health survey, NHANES, which measures pesticide breakdown products in urine. A Sichuan University team’s study of 555 men, published in 2022, linked one organophosphate breakdown product to self-reported erection problems, with men in the top exposure group 33% more likely to report them.
A 2023 study of 671 men, led by researchers from Emory and Stanford universities, found higher odds of erection problems in some groups with more of a breakdown product of the insecticide chlorpyrifos. When exposure was measured as a sliding scale, the link wasn’t significant. The same Sichuan group also looked at 2,4-D, one of the world’s most used weedkillers, in 1,311 men and found no association at all.
Why the evidence is still weak
The NHANES studies take a single snapshot, a urine test and a survey answer at one point in time. The Emory and Stanford authors say population studies are limited and results mixed, and both US-survey teams that found links say their findings need more study.
Johns Hopkins urologist Arthur Burnett reviewed the evidence in 2008. He concluded it supports a possible link between environmental exposures and erectile dysfunction, but that the science can’t yet establish a direct cause. A 2026 review from Romanian researchers of lambda-cyhalothrin, a widely used insecticide, proposed ways it might affect erections and fertility, while noting the human evidence is limited and mixed.
The New Zealand picture, and what to do
The Environmental Protection Authority banned chlorpyrifos in July 2025, phasing it out over six months for most uses and 18 months for grass grub control. Dr Shaun Presow, the EPA’s Hazardous Substances Reassessments Manager, said operators spraying it and bystanders were most at risk of health problems, and that even full protective gear didn’t fully remove the risk.
If you use sprays in the garden or on the farm, the National Poisons Centre’s advice is to follow the label’s directions on protective gear every time, and keep products in their original containers.
For most men, the likelier causes are closer to home. Healthify lists cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, along with some medicines, including antidepressants and blood pressure tablets. If you think a medicine is the problem, don’t stop taking it suddenly, Healthify says, and talk to your GP or pharmacist instead.
Erection problems can be an early sign of diabetes or heart disease, so they’re worth raising with your GP, and the conversation is confidential. For free health advice at any hour, Healthline is on 0800 611 116.
Pesticides may yet turn out to play a part. For now, the GP’s checklist is the better place to start.
