IU Pesticide Exposure Study Gets $1M NSF Grant

Research examines how agricultural changes impact health for people and wildlife

Jan. 27, 2026 at 9:23pm

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Indiana University's Michael Wasserman has received a $1 million National Science Foundation grant to study how pesticides and other environmental chemicals move through ecosystems and impact the health of both people and wildlife. The research focuses on farming communities surrounding Uganda's Kibale National Park, where Wasserman's team is tracking seasonal variations in pesticide use, chemical exposure, and potential health effects.

Why it matters

As agricultural systems intensify worldwide, this research aims to provide a clearer picture of how human decisions around pesticide use ripple through shared environments and across species. The findings could inform ways for communities to reduce exposure and protect human and wildlife health.

The details

Wasserman's research began by investigating naturally occurring plant chemicals in tropical forests, where primates ingest leaves and other foods with hormone-mimicking compounds. After joining IU, he expanded the work to include human-made chemicals through a collaboration with environmental chemist Marta Venier. Their research team has detected pesticides and flame retardants in the air and confirmed that monkeys and apes have ingested these pollutants. The new NSF-funded project now focuses on 12 farming communities surrounding Kibale National Park in Uganda, where researchers are surveying households about farming practices, pesticide use, environmental change, and access to agricultural products. They are also measuring exposure across people, wildlife, and the environment.

  • The first phase of the project, completed last year, surveyed around 600 households.
  • The second phase, now underway, is following 108 households over an entire year to capture seasonal variation in farming and exposure.

The players

Michael Wasserman

Associate Professor of Anthropology and Human Biology at the Indiana University Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences, who focuses his research on how pesticides and other environmental chemicals interact with the endocrine system in primates and humans.

Marta Venier

Environmental chemist at IU's O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, who collaborated with Wasserman to help launch one of the few primate-focused studies examining pollution exposure in wild animals.

National Science Foundation

The U.S. government agency that awarded a more than $1 million grant through the Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems (DISES) program to support Wasserman's research project.

Kibale National Park

A protected forest area in western Uganda where Wasserman's research team is collecting data on environmental and wildlife exposure to pesticides and other chemicals.

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What they’re saying

“At a broad level, what I work on are interactions between primates and exogenous, or external, chemicals that interact with the endocrine system. Chemicals coming from the environment into the body that can mimic hormones, bind to hormone receptors and have physiological and potentially behavioral effects because of that activity.”

— Michael Wasserman, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Human Biology (Mirage News)

“Uganda is going through a major agricultural transition, moving away from traditional farming methods to more intensive pesticide and fertilizer use to increase productivity.”

— Michael Wasserman, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Human Biology (Mirage News)

“We suspect that farmers are using these pesticides more and more because they're perceiving environmental risk that is changing due to shifts in climate, dealing with more fungal growth, more insect pests. However, some farmers involved in the study are reporting symptoms like nausea, burning eyes, or loss of appetite.”

— Michael Wasserman, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Human Biology (Mirage News)

What’s next

The research team plans to share the study's results through community meetings and Ugandan media outlets once the project concludes.

The takeaway

This interdisciplinary research project aims to inform communities about pesticide exposure levels and suggest ways to reduce that exposure, protecting both human health and wildlife health as agricultural systems continue to intensify worldwide.